Metroid II: Return of Samus was released on 3DS Virtual Console this week, and I promptly grabbed it on Wednesday. Three hours and twenty minutes of gameplay later, I've finished it for probably the third or fourth time in my life.
This game is considered by many to be the black sheep of the Metroid series, and, as much as I like it, that is probably correct. It's an oddball little game, that's for sure. But it is not a bad game, which is what many people paint it as. It certainly has some issues, but the game is worth playing overall.
One of the issues with making games for the 8-bit Game Boy back in the early 90s was that despite its (relative) power, the screen resolution was tiny. This meant that although the system could display pretty detailed sprites, they either had to be incredibly small or way too large. One of the primary complaints people have about Metroid II is that Samus' sprite is way too large on the screen, which means that the player has a limited amount of time to react when enemies appear. While this is true, Metroid II does mitigate this by being predictable - and not in the "oh I know what is going to happen, BORING" way, but in the way where the player can recognize the room and enemy type and predict what things he'll likely encounter. The game will occasionally throw you for a loop, but most of the time you can predict what sorts of things will happen given the room. This fits with the overall theme of the game, as well - you are exploring a wild planet, after all, and you are a foreigner invading an ecosystem that has creatures who have behavior patterns and follow rules (the designers of the game, though, most likely just made the enemies behave the way they do to, again, mitigate the problem of there not being enough screen real-estate for the player to react to them).
Another major complaint about the game is the lack of free form exploration. In Metroid II, Samus is tasked with obliterating the Metroid species on SR-388, and so the whole point of the game is to track down every last Metroid and kill them all. There is a counter in the bottom right of the screen that tells the player how many Metroids are left. Also, when paused, that counter switches to tell you how many Metroids are left in your current area. "Areas" are divided into sections where the player must kill a certain number of Metroids, after which the planets lava will drain a little, allowing Samus to explore deeper into the planet. This doesn't really make any sense - why does the death of a certain species cause lava to drain? - but because of this, the player is limited to these areas until they clear out the Metroids.
This wouldn't be much of a problem to most people, I'm sure, if the level design wasn't so odd. It's unclear if the designers really were trying to make the underground caverns of SR-388 feel natural to the point that there are very few landmarks and thus it's very easy to get lost, or if they were constrained by the shortcomings of the Game Boy (probably a little of column A and a little of column B). The player will encounter very tight passageways filled with enemies that are hard to hit (depending on their current beam weapon, anyway) and then all of a sudden they'll be in a wide open cavern with very few enemies and tons of empty space they can jump through. These rooms are usually where players get disoriented, and they are actually my biggest complaint about the game. Because they are so large and empty, it's easy to confuse one room for another, and most of the time, they have little to no background - which means you can't tell how far Samus is falling when she jumps off a ledge into the blackness. This disorientation is further exacerbated when you realize that each of these enormous rooms are slightly different, but not in immediately obvious ways. So you might think you're in one large room, and start heading in a certain direction, when you are really in a different room. This is why an in-game map would be great, which is another complaint people have (myself included).
The 3DS version, though, is nice because you have the ability (as with any 3DS game) to go to the main menu by hitting home, hopping on the internet, and pulling up a map of the game (which I did when I got lost right at about the halfway point - didn't need to use it again after that, though). You also have the ability to use savestates, which make the battles against the Omega Metroids a bit more manageable (bastards). It is for this reason that I'd say this is the best version of Metroid II - sure, it's not the Super Game Boy version, but who cares? I played through this game on my original brick Game Boy when I was a kid, and if I could beat it on that impossible to see screen, anyone can beat this game on their beautiful 3DS screen.
My favorite thing about Metroid II, though, is the atmosphere. This is a creepy game. The few actual songs the game has are great, but most of the time there is just this weird set of atonal beeps and bloops. It sounds as alien as one could imagine. Since there are sometimes seconds long periods of silence, where you can only hear Samus' footsteps, the fact that Samus is alone in the middle of nowhere is really driven home, even more so than in the original Metroid, which I also think is good at reinforcing the feeling of loneliness. And when you encounter a Metroid, it is genuinely scary - they usually pop out of an egg or mutate when you first see them, and then they come at you with everything they have while creepy music plays. The game won't let the player control Samus as they mutate, so they are forced to watch this grotesque evolution play out (the player is allowed, however, to switch to missiles during this time). The power of the Metroids is also readily apparent, what with the fact that every other enemy in the game is some small, easily swatted away insect that probably only survives on SR-388 because the Metroids have no interest in eating them. There are a few larger creatures, but they are usually heavily armored and can only be damaged by shooting them from one side, suggesting that these enemies developed some sort of defense against the predatory Metroids.
The game is also really challenging. Not just because it's easy to get lost, either - as you get farther into the game, the Metroids get tougher and tougher. The Omega Metroids take a whopping 40 missiles to kill, and they spend a lot of time flying around the screen erratically! Luckily, they too have patterns, so if the player is observant they can be exploited.
Metroid II is also, as far as narrative is concerned, the most important game in the series. It's ending is the catalyst for Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion, and Metroid: Other M - which is near half of the entire series created up to this point, including the Metroid Prime series. If you take that series out of the overall narrative (as the Japanese creators of the series apparently have at this point) Metroid II's events are crucial for the narrative of all the rest of the following Metroid games. Pretty neat for a little black and white Game Boy game, huh?
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Sunday, November 6, 2011
The Nintendo DS: Part Five
The 3DS has been out for 3/4 of a year, but that doesn't mean I can't stop eulogizing the original DS! Oddly enough, there have been a great game or two released for the system since I wrote the last post in this series, even. But anyway! Back to the saga of the DS!
(part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4)
---
Since its debut in the fall of 1996, the Pokemon series has always been a juggernaut for Nintendo. Each version in each "generation" of core Pokemon games sell well into the millions. The GBA versions of Pokemon were good, but that generation was the first in which Nintendo was criticized for "going through the motions" with the series. Cries of "the Pokemon designs are too similar to the old ones!" or "the designs are stupid" spread like wildfire on message boards across the internet. It probably didn't help that Nintendo released the first of the Pokemon remakes, FireRed and LeafGreen, which were upgraded versions of the 1996 Game Boy games. "Obviously, Nintendo is out of ideas when it comes to this series," many said. "What could they possibly do different in the future?"
Astute observers, though, would have noticed where Nintendo was likely going to go if they paid attention to how they released the aforementioned remakes. FireRed and LeafGreen both came with wireless adapters, so players could trade Pokemon wirelessly with each other, eliminating the need for each player to have their own cords and all that. If you owned FireRed or LeafGreen, you had a wireless adapter and were thus ready to go. No extra cost, no extra trip to the store for mom and dad, you can just trade with your friends right now. The only thing the adapter didn't let you do was go online to trade your Pokemon.
Nintendo's next generation handheld fixed that. Sporting wireless connectivity right out of the box, the time was right for Nintendo to implement some new functionality to the series before it became stagnant. It was time to allow players to trade their Pokemon with anyone in the world.
And that is exactly what they did. There were now almost no barriers to entry to playing and fully enjoying Pokemon like there was in the past - so long as you had the system and the game, you were on a pretty even field with everyone else. You would not have to buy two versions of the same game to be able to get all the Pokemon - you could simply trade with someone on the internet to get the ones you were missing. You didn't have to buy a separate cord to be able to hook up with a friend. And, despite the collective internet losing its collective mind about the implementation of Friend Codes, the DS Pokemon games only made you enter them to trade with individual friends. You could trade to people on the internet without having to waste your time typing in a long code each and every time you made a trade.
The level designs in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl were a huge step up from the GBA games as well. Gone are the underwater sections from that game, which were ugly mazes that you could only get to by using a HM move (a move taught to your Pokemon that was usually useless in battle, but took up one of your precious four move slots so you could get around the world map). Some areas of the world had dynamic weather, which would change the way the player can move about - and also changes which Pokemon might appear. You could also bring your Pokemon from the previous generation up to the new one by utilizing the GBA slot on the DS.
Also, with just a few exceptions (the obligatory new version of Pidgey - the Starly evolution line, among a few others), the new Pokemon designs were interesting again. Battles were a bit easier to get through as well, because the player could use the touch screen to issue commands to his Pokemon in addition to being able to use the buttons as before.
Nintendo eventually released Pokemon Black and White, also for the DS, this year. They fixed some of the complaints people had about Diamond and Pearl, most notably how slow the battles moved even with animation turned off. Black and White added even more weather effects, and the world was navigated with a bit more visual flair as well. The story had a bit of a darker tone to begin with and was thus a bit more interesting than usual, despite veering into familiar territory near the end.
But the Pokemon series could not exist as it does today without the DS hardware. There will not be a mainline Pokemon game released at any point in the future without the ability to trade over the internet. But not every game would need such features. Some games were meant to be deliberate throwbacks to simpler times. Nintendo had been hinting at looking back at some of their older titles already on the GBA with the E-Reader versions of classic NES games, along with the Classic NES Series. But it had been a long while since their most important franchise returned to the realm of 2D...
(part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4)
---
Since its debut in the fall of 1996, the Pokemon series has always been a juggernaut for Nintendo. Each version in each "generation" of core Pokemon games sell well into the millions. The GBA versions of Pokemon were good, but that generation was the first in which Nintendo was criticized for "going through the motions" with the series. Cries of "the Pokemon designs are too similar to the old ones!" or "the designs are stupid" spread like wildfire on message boards across the internet. It probably didn't help that Nintendo released the first of the Pokemon remakes, FireRed and LeafGreen, which were upgraded versions of the 1996 Game Boy games. "Obviously, Nintendo is out of ideas when it comes to this series," many said. "What could they possibly do different in the future?"
Astute observers, though, would have noticed where Nintendo was likely going to go if they paid attention to how they released the aforementioned remakes. FireRed and LeafGreen both came with wireless adapters, so players could trade Pokemon wirelessly with each other, eliminating the need for each player to have their own cords and all that. If you owned FireRed or LeafGreen, you had a wireless adapter and were thus ready to go. No extra cost, no extra trip to the store for mom and dad, you can just trade with your friends right now. The only thing the adapter didn't let you do was go online to trade your Pokemon.
Nintendo's next generation handheld fixed that. Sporting wireless connectivity right out of the box, the time was right for Nintendo to implement some new functionality to the series before it became stagnant. It was time to allow players to trade their Pokemon with anyone in the world.
And that is exactly what they did. There were now almost no barriers to entry to playing and fully enjoying Pokemon like there was in the past - so long as you had the system and the game, you were on a pretty even field with everyone else. You would not have to buy two versions of the same game to be able to get all the Pokemon - you could simply trade with someone on the internet to get the ones you were missing. You didn't have to buy a separate cord to be able to hook up with a friend. And, despite the collective internet losing its collective mind about the implementation of Friend Codes, the DS Pokemon games only made you enter them to trade with individual friends. You could trade to people on the internet without having to waste your time typing in a long code each and every time you made a trade.
The level designs in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl were a huge step up from the GBA games as well. Gone are the underwater sections from that game, which were ugly mazes that you could only get to by using a HM move (a move taught to your Pokemon that was usually useless in battle, but took up one of your precious four move slots so you could get around the world map). Some areas of the world had dynamic weather, which would change the way the player can move about - and also changes which Pokemon might appear. You could also bring your Pokemon from the previous generation up to the new one by utilizing the GBA slot on the DS.
Also, with just a few exceptions (the obligatory new version of Pidgey - the Starly evolution line, among a few others), the new Pokemon designs were interesting again. Battles were a bit easier to get through as well, because the player could use the touch screen to issue commands to his Pokemon in addition to being able to use the buttons as before.
Nintendo eventually released Pokemon Black and White, also for the DS, this year. They fixed some of the complaints people had about Diamond and Pearl, most notably how slow the battles moved even with animation turned off. Black and White added even more weather effects, and the world was navigated with a bit more visual flair as well. The story had a bit of a darker tone to begin with and was thus a bit more interesting than usual, despite veering into familiar territory near the end.
But the Pokemon series could not exist as it does today without the DS hardware. There will not be a mainline Pokemon game released at any point in the future without the ability to trade over the internet. But not every game would need such features. Some games were meant to be deliberate throwbacks to simpler times. Nintendo had been hinting at looking back at some of their older titles already on the GBA with the E-Reader versions of classic NES games, along with the Classic NES Series. But it had been a long while since their most important franchise returned to the realm of 2D...
Thursday, November 3, 2011
In case you hadn't picked up on it yet... I am a huge fucking dork
I haven't done a sort of "what I've been playing" brain dump of a bunch of games I don't have much to say about in a while, so I thought I'd write one of those here. I also scored some awesome deals the past few weeks so I thought I'd throw them up here, too.
First off, I scored pretty big in Mt. Pleasant last weekend. The local game shop had Xenosaga III (PS2) mint for $17.99, the lowest price I've ever seen it, so I grabbed that along with a mint The Legendary Starfy (DS) for $11.99 and near mint Star Ocean: The Second Story (PS1) for free (part of their constant B2G1 free sale, probably my favorite thing about that store). I haven't played any of those yet, but I was intrigued because it was the first time I had ever seen the PS1 Star Ocean game and I had just bought Star Ocean: First Departure (PSP) for a song the previous week (a Target coupon for $5 off their online store netted me the game for about $4 shipped brand new).
The previous week had been pretty good to me as well. My "requests" list on Goozex has started to bear fruit, and I received notice I would be getting Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! (DS) in the mail in a week or so for 650 easily earned points (I will not be missing an extra copy of Izuna 1 (DS), Tales of Phantasia (GBA), or the battered copy of Mega Man (NES) I had received off Goozex once already - and I still have 900 points left over from those trades!). I've played four songs on it already, and despite not being able to read the language or understand what the songs are saying or what's really going on on the top screen, this feels like more Elite Beat Agents which is pretty much exactly what I've wanted since laughing my way through that game. The Ouendan are just as ridiculous and goofy as the Agents were, so I'm sure I'll play my way through that game, and maybe someday Goozex will send me the sequel, which sports a title including the words "Hot-Blooded."
Strangely, I've been getting ridiculously lucky on Glyde lately as well. I grabbed Mario Hoops: 3 on 3 (DS) for $12.99 shipped as soon as I saw it, as that is about ten or fifteen bucks cheaper than I have ever seen it anywhere since it came out like five years ago (right now on Glyde, the game in the same exact condition - "excellent" - I got it for is $27.99). The game will probably arrive in the next few days. I was also able to score Harvest Moon DS for $9.49 shipped in excellent condition, which I was thrilled about because I wish I never would have sold the thing a few years back in the first place and that's as cheap as I've ever seen it. There isn't currently an "excellent" condition copy available on Glyde, but right now a "good" copy is going for about $14 shipped. I got the Gamecube Warioware in excellent condition for $6.83 shipped, which is cool because that game is multiplayer Warioware on a big screen (and isn't like forty stupid dollars like the Wii version has been for years). I got Sim City DS for $6 shipped and Orcs and Elves (DS) for $5 shipped, neither of which are great games but I've been kind of interested in both since they came out and I figured they won't get any cheaper than that.
Probably the cream of the recent crop, though, is what I was able to snag a few days ago. I decided to log into my Gamestop rewards account for no apparent reason and discovered I could spend 6000 of my then 15000 points on a coupon for $10 off any used game. Since that coupon is usually 10000 points and the deal is only going on this week, I printed one out and went to the store. Lo and behold, someone had sold back a copy of Aliens: Infestation (DS) already! It was listed as $24.99, way more than I'd be willing to pay for the game, but at $14.99 plus my ten percent discount, I figured that was a good deal so I grabbed it.
Now I can actually talk about a game! I was interested in A:I because I had heard it was shockingly similar to side-scrolling Metroid. Since there hasn't been a new side-scrolling Metroid since Fusion, I have been dying for some of that so I read some reviews and put it on my to-buy list. First of all, this game is hard. The Aliens do not go down easy, and can kill you fairly quickly. When you play Metroid, you feel pretty much like a badass, because not much can stop you except maybe a boss. Not so in Aliens. Your marine guys are way weaker than Samus, cannot take much punishment, and are way less agile. The little guys who try to jump on you and suck your brains out or whatever are quite dangerous, because they can stop you in your tracks as you take damage from the big guys running around, who are VERY fast and can sometimes take quite a few hits to take down. You also have limited ammo for everything besides your handgun - and your handgun sucks! You can upgrade your weapons by finding upgrade kits strewn about the levels like missile tanks in Metroid, but they seem to be much rarer here.
I might write more about the game in the future, as it does some interesting things (such as how if one of your guys dies, they are dead forever - unless of course you power down your system before your next save or before the next time you beat a boss), but I must go play some more Balloon Kid (GB). It just came out on the 3DS VC, and it's a sequel to Balloon Fight with (gasp!) actual level design! Plus my girlfriend totally owns an actual cartridge. Prior to seeing her copy, I had no idea it even existed. I probably won't write about it here (there's not much to say - you travel left, collect balloons, and avoid dying) but it's pretty fun, and easily worth $2.99.
And thus ends a post in which I write a thousand words about damn near nothing.
First off, I scored pretty big in Mt. Pleasant last weekend. The local game shop had Xenosaga III (PS2) mint for $17.99, the lowest price I've ever seen it, so I grabbed that along with a mint The Legendary Starfy (DS) for $11.99 and near mint Star Ocean: The Second Story (PS1) for free (part of their constant B2G1 free sale, probably my favorite thing about that store). I haven't played any of those yet, but I was intrigued because it was the first time I had ever seen the PS1 Star Ocean game and I had just bought Star Ocean: First Departure (PSP) for a song the previous week (a Target coupon for $5 off their online store netted me the game for about $4 shipped brand new).
The previous week had been pretty good to me as well. My "requests" list on Goozex has started to bear fruit, and I received notice I would be getting Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! (DS) in the mail in a week or so for 650 easily earned points (I will not be missing an extra copy of Izuna 1 (DS), Tales of Phantasia (GBA), or the battered copy of Mega Man (NES) I had received off Goozex once already - and I still have 900 points left over from those trades!). I've played four songs on it already, and despite not being able to read the language or understand what the songs are saying or what's really going on on the top screen, this feels like more Elite Beat Agents which is pretty much exactly what I've wanted since laughing my way through that game. The Ouendan are just as ridiculous and goofy as the Agents were, so I'm sure I'll play my way through that game, and maybe someday Goozex will send me the sequel, which sports a title including the words "Hot-Blooded."
Strangely, I've been getting ridiculously lucky on Glyde lately as well. I grabbed Mario Hoops: 3 on 3 (DS) for $12.99 shipped as soon as I saw it, as that is about ten or fifteen bucks cheaper than I have ever seen it anywhere since it came out like five years ago (right now on Glyde, the game in the same exact condition - "excellent" - I got it for is $27.99). The game will probably arrive in the next few days. I was also able to score Harvest Moon DS for $9.49 shipped in excellent condition, which I was thrilled about because I wish I never would have sold the thing a few years back in the first place and that's as cheap as I've ever seen it. There isn't currently an "excellent" condition copy available on Glyde, but right now a "good" copy is going for about $14 shipped. I got the Gamecube Warioware in excellent condition for $6.83 shipped, which is cool because that game is multiplayer Warioware on a big screen (and isn't like forty stupid dollars like the Wii version has been for years). I got Sim City DS for $6 shipped and Orcs and Elves (DS) for $5 shipped, neither of which are great games but I've been kind of interested in both since they came out and I figured they won't get any cheaper than that.
Probably the cream of the recent crop, though, is what I was able to snag a few days ago. I decided to log into my Gamestop rewards account for no apparent reason and discovered I could spend 6000 of my then 15000 points on a coupon for $10 off any used game. Since that coupon is usually 10000 points and the deal is only going on this week, I printed one out and went to the store. Lo and behold, someone had sold back a copy of Aliens: Infestation (DS) already! It was listed as $24.99, way more than I'd be willing to pay for the game, but at $14.99 plus my ten percent discount, I figured that was a good deal so I grabbed it.
Now I can actually talk about a game! I was interested in A:I because I had heard it was shockingly similar to side-scrolling Metroid. Since there hasn't been a new side-scrolling Metroid since Fusion, I have been dying for some of that so I read some reviews and put it on my to-buy list. First of all, this game is hard. The Aliens do not go down easy, and can kill you fairly quickly. When you play Metroid, you feel pretty much like a badass, because not much can stop you except maybe a boss. Not so in Aliens. Your marine guys are way weaker than Samus, cannot take much punishment, and are way less agile. The little guys who try to jump on you and suck your brains out or whatever are quite dangerous, because they can stop you in your tracks as you take damage from the big guys running around, who are VERY fast and can sometimes take quite a few hits to take down. You also have limited ammo for everything besides your handgun - and your handgun sucks! You can upgrade your weapons by finding upgrade kits strewn about the levels like missile tanks in Metroid, but they seem to be much rarer here.
I might write more about the game in the future, as it does some interesting things (such as how if one of your guys dies, they are dead forever - unless of course you power down your system before your next save or before the next time you beat a boss), but I must go play some more Balloon Kid (GB). It just came out on the 3DS VC, and it's a sequel to Balloon Fight with (gasp!) actual level design! Plus my girlfriend totally owns an actual cartridge. Prior to seeing her copy, I had no idea it even existed. I probably won't write about it here (there's not much to say - you travel left, collect balloons, and avoid dying) but it's pretty fun, and easily worth $2.99.
And thus ends a post in which I write a thousand words about damn near nothing.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
"A painting... of the soul!" Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
I decided randomly a few weeks ago that I wanted to play a Castlevania game, and not one that I've beaten a thousand times (such as Dawn of Sorrow). So I picked Portrait of Ruin, a game that I didn't get very far in when I first got it and haven't played since probably 2006.
Coming right off Dawn of Sorrow (still my favorite in the series), PoR is somewhat a disappointment. There's no Soul System, so killing enemies only nets you experience and the occasional dropped item like usual, rather than thousands of different powers you can use. You do have two characters to switch between, Jonathan and Charlotte. They each play a little bit differently, as their attacks are of different types - Jonathan's attacks are what I'll call "physical" and Charlotte's are what I'll call "magical" (the game might have terms for these, but I never saw what they were). Most enemies will take damage from both kinds of attacks, but some enemies will take significantly reduced damage from a particular type (bosses are often guilty of this - they seem to be built around the developers wanting to force the player to beat them with one of the two characters in particular). What I find interesting about this system is how it was iterated upon in the sequel a few years later in Order of Ecclesia, where there are multiple kinds of weapons and specific enemy types are weak to specific types of weapons (swords, whips, axes, etc.). I just find it kind of neat how you can draw a clear line of evolution from this game to that one, despite being awfully different in many respects.
As different as they are, though, I must say OoE is pretty much the spiritual sequel to PoR. Though they do not star the same characters, I think OoE improves upon PoR's ideas in every way. The levels are split up into different maps in both games - PoR has levels divided into "paintings" that are basically just warp points, whereas OoE is one continuous world divided into discrete levels (for example, you can travel from the town to the forest to the lighthouse in OoE, where in PoR, you'd have to hop into different paintings for each of these). The battle system has similar ideas, because in PoR, you have two different characters and can "call" the other person in to help you fight (the ally AI is pretty crappy, but it IS an option) or can switch between the two on the fly. OoE has only one playable character, but she can switch between three different equipment sets on the fly, which changes which weapons she has equipped so it's similar to PoR ally-swapping. There are weird little missions you can get in both games, too - in PoR, they come from "Wind," and you can only take on five at a time and you cannot even SEE any other ones until you start completing them, whereas in OoE you get them from the villagers you save in the individual levels, and you can pick and choose which ones you want to do at any time. The nice part about OoE is that the missions make sense - one mission you get tasks you with finding the cat of one of the little kids in town. The missions in PoR are random and arbitrary most of the time. One of them is creepy - "Wind," a dead ghost, asks Charlotte to come back wearing three maid items to complete the mission. Gross.
Anyway, Portrait of Ruin plays pretty well for most of the game and the levels are fun, right up until the last third of the game. You get to a point where you have to go through "dark" versions of levels you've already beaten with slightly altered maps and harder enemies. For a Castlevania game, this is a terrible idea. You already travel through these levels enough as it is looking for stuff and the way to go and all that, and you force me to do it again?! With less save points? Ugh. One of them in particular, the dark counterpart to the Nation of Fools, is like torture. It's difficult to figure out where you're allowed to even go, much less figure out where you should go. Oh and there's also yellow Medusa Heads around. Not fun. Also boring!
I do really enjoy the bonus mode you get for beating the game, though. You can play as Richter Belmont and Maria through the entire game, without any story scenes or missions or anything like that. They level up just like Jonathan and Charlotte, but they don't get new equipment or anything like that - Richter always has the Vampire Hunter whip and the normal assortment of Castlevania subweapons, and Maria has her awesome bird attack that shoots out at an upward arc really fast and does tons of damage quickly, assuming the enemy takes decent damage from magic attacks. Richter and Maria are a blast to play as and frankly would be a great bonus mode in any Castlevania, honestly.
So Portrait of Ruin is the worst DS Castlevania, but it is still absolutely worth playing. I had a blast playing through it and if it has been a while since you've played a decent Castlevania, pick it up and play through it.
(Click here to read my Order of Ecclesia post from earlier this year. It's pretty good!)
Coming right off Dawn of Sorrow (still my favorite in the series), PoR is somewhat a disappointment. There's no Soul System, so killing enemies only nets you experience and the occasional dropped item like usual, rather than thousands of different powers you can use. You do have two characters to switch between, Jonathan and Charlotte. They each play a little bit differently, as their attacks are of different types - Jonathan's attacks are what I'll call "physical" and Charlotte's are what I'll call "magical" (the game might have terms for these, but I never saw what they were). Most enemies will take damage from both kinds of attacks, but some enemies will take significantly reduced damage from a particular type (bosses are often guilty of this - they seem to be built around the developers wanting to force the player to beat them with one of the two characters in particular). What I find interesting about this system is how it was iterated upon in the sequel a few years later in Order of Ecclesia, where there are multiple kinds of weapons and specific enemy types are weak to specific types of weapons (swords, whips, axes, etc.). I just find it kind of neat how you can draw a clear line of evolution from this game to that one, despite being awfully different in many respects.
As different as they are, though, I must say OoE is pretty much the spiritual sequel to PoR. Though they do not star the same characters, I think OoE improves upon PoR's ideas in every way. The levels are split up into different maps in both games - PoR has levels divided into "paintings" that are basically just warp points, whereas OoE is one continuous world divided into discrete levels (for example, you can travel from the town to the forest to the lighthouse in OoE, where in PoR, you'd have to hop into different paintings for each of these). The battle system has similar ideas, because in PoR, you have two different characters and can "call" the other person in to help you fight (the ally AI is pretty crappy, but it IS an option) or can switch between the two on the fly. OoE has only one playable character, but she can switch between three different equipment sets on the fly, which changes which weapons she has equipped so it's similar to PoR ally-swapping. There are weird little missions you can get in both games, too - in PoR, they come from "Wind," and you can only take on five at a time and you cannot even SEE any other ones until you start completing them, whereas in OoE you get them from the villagers you save in the individual levels, and you can pick and choose which ones you want to do at any time. The nice part about OoE is that the missions make sense - one mission you get tasks you with finding the cat of one of the little kids in town. The missions in PoR are random and arbitrary most of the time. One of them is creepy - "Wind," a dead ghost, asks Charlotte to come back wearing three maid items to complete the mission. Gross.
Anyway, Portrait of Ruin plays pretty well for most of the game and the levels are fun, right up until the last third of the game. You get to a point where you have to go through "dark" versions of levels you've already beaten with slightly altered maps and harder enemies. For a Castlevania game, this is a terrible idea. You already travel through these levels enough as it is looking for stuff and the way to go and all that, and you force me to do it again?! With less save points? Ugh. One of them in particular, the dark counterpart to the Nation of Fools, is like torture. It's difficult to figure out where you're allowed to even go, much less figure out where you should go. Oh and there's also yellow Medusa Heads around. Not fun. Also boring!
I do really enjoy the bonus mode you get for beating the game, though. You can play as Richter Belmont and Maria through the entire game, without any story scenes or missions or anything like that. They level up just like Jonathan and Charlotte, but they don't get new equipment or anything like that - Richter always has the Vampire Hunter whip and the normal assortment of Castlevania subweapons, and Maria has her awesome bird attack that shoots out at an upward arc really fast and does tons of damage quickly, assuming the enemy takes decent damage from magic attacks. Richter and Maria are a blast to play as and frankly would be a great bonus mode in any Castlevania, honestly.
So Portrait of Ruin is the worst DS Castlevania, but it is still absolutely worth playing. I had a blast playing through it and if it has been a while since you've played a decent Castlevania, pick it up and play through it.
(Click here to read my Order of Ecclesia post from earlier this year. It's pretty good!)
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
DQM: Joker 2 - Complete
So I beat Joker 2 today, or at least the first part. I beat the final boss, which then allowed my airship to travel again, and I flew to the tournament we were originally going to anyway and won. I like how they did it, too - since I had just played the game for 25 hours, the game skipped all the low level fights and took me right to the championship bout - which was relatively easy (it wouldn't have been if I didn't have a monster with Armor Seco Rain, which completely heals everyone in 2 turns).
Disappointed you don't get to participate in an actual tournament like in the first game? Don't be! After the credits roll, your character and the crew of the ship fly back to the island they crashed on, where the moles are holding the official ORIGINAL Scouting Championship. It also unlocks some more monsters around the island, and it also lets you SCOUT THE GIANT MONSTERS THAT HAVE BEEN HOUNDING YOU THE WHOLE GAME.
They're very difficult to scout, though. I've only scouted the very first one so far (the giant worm, who takes up three party spots so you can only use him at any given time). I'm raising his levels right now, to fully unlock his unique abilities. I'm not quite sure what will happen if I fuse him - will I be able to scout another one? - but his stats are already kind of low compared to my highest leveled monsters (I have an A+1, the giant worm is only a D). So I'll probably fuse him eventually.
I think the biggest compliment I can give this game is that I still want to play it, even after 25 hours of monster grinding. I probably won't go nuts and get every monster or even beat the scouting challenge (lots of games are coming out for the next few months, you see) but I sure would like to catch all those giants. When I beat Pokemon White earlier this year, I was relieved to just finally be done. I had very little desire to keep exploring the world and raising monsters. Like I said in my last post, I think it comes down to exploring the world... Actually seeing how big these monsters actually are, and avoiding getting slaughtered really makes the world seem more organic and interesting. (By the way, like in all Dragon Quests and Pokemon, when you lose a battle, you get sent back to the ship minus half your gold. There's a bank on the ship that lets you mitigate losses by depositing gold before you venture out).
So, yeah, I want there to be more Joker 2... Square Enix recently announced a 3DS remake of the GB Monsters game (which I actually own, but haven't played), so I'll probably just wait for that (and Rocket Slime 3DS!).
This has also made me want to go back and actually finish Dragon Quest V or IX, too. They're the only two DS Dragon Quest games I haven't beaten (besides the original Joker, but screw it, Joker 2 is better in every way so it doesn't count).
Anyway, Joker 2 is amazing, and is highly recommended to anyone who likes games like Pokemon - even if you aren't necessarily a Dragon Quest fan.
This means you, Kyle.
Disappointed you don't get to participate in an actual tournament like in the first game? Don't be! After the credits roll, your character and the crew of the ship fly back to the island they crashed on, where the moles are holding the official ORIGINAL Scouting Championship. It also unlocks some more monsters around the island, and it also lets you SCOUT THE GIANT MONSTERS THAT HAVE BEEN HOUNDING YOU THE WHOLE GAME.
They're very difficult to scout, though. I've only scouted the very first one so far (the giant worm, who takes up three party spots so you can only use him at any given time). I'm raising his levels right now, to fully unlock his unique abilities. I'm not quite sure what will happen if I fuse him - will I be able to scout another one? - but his stats are already kind of low compared to my highest leveled monsters (I have an A+1, the giant worm is only a D). So I'll probably fuse him eventually.
I think the biggest compliment I can give this game is that I still want to play it, even after 25 hours of monster grinding. I probably won't go nuts and get every monster or even beat the scouting challenge (lots of games are coming out for the next few months, you see) but I sure would like to catch all those giants. When I beat Pokemon White earlier this year, I was relieved to just finally be done. I had very little desire to keep exploring the world and raising monsters. Like I said in my last post, I think it comes down to exploring the world... Actually seeing how big these monsters actually are, and avoiding getting slaughtered really makes the world seem more organic and interesting. (By the way, like in all Dragon Quests and Pokemon, when you lose a battle, you get sent back to the ship minus half your gold. There's a bank on the ship that lets you mitigate losses by depositing gold before you venture out).
So, yeah, I want there to be more Joker 2... Square Enix recently announced a 3DS remake of the GB Monsters game (which I actually own, but haven't played), so I'll probably just wait for that (and Rocket Slime 3DS!).
This has also made me want to go back and actually finish Dragon Quest V or IX, too. They're the only two DS Dragon Quest games I haven't beaten (besides the original Joker, but screw it, Joker 2 is better in every way so it doesn't count).
Anyway, Joker 2 is amazing, and is highly recommended to anyone who likes games like Pokemon - even if you aren't necessarily a Dragon Quest fan.
This means you, Kyle.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 is Great
So I bought Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 because I played a few hours of the first one, and was somewhat impressed. I say somewhat because the first game has some flaws in its presentation, which I'll get to at the end of this post.
So, the DQM:J series is similar to Pokemon, in that you go around a world and collect and train monsters to beat some competition. The difference between this series and Pokemon, though, is that you can "synthesize" monsters together to get a new one, and carry over powers and some stats to the new guy.
This, of course, reminds me of the Shin Megami Tensei series, wherein you fuse demons together to carry over powers and stats to the new ones. The mechanics are very similar, actually, with only a few differences. First, to "synthesize" monsters in the DQM:J series, both monsters must be at least level 10. This is annoying early on, when raising your guys to level 10 takes forever, but eventually you can do that in a few minutes even without the help of a metal slime.
What the DQM:J series needs to take from SMT, though, is the idea of a "compendium." In SMT, this allows you to repurchase old demons, in the interest of using them to fuse new ones or just to get them back if you don't like the demon you got as a result of a borked fuse. DQM:J doesn't have anything like this; once you fuse a monster, it's gone forever. The only way to get another guy is to raise more monsters, go all the way through the evolution trees, and get the new guy, or just catch a (slightly worse) one in the wild. Sure, leveling up to level 10 is easy when you have access to the later areas, and it's nice that three backup monsters (I.E. monsters not currently in your active party, but still with you) gain experience too. I just wish I could cut out the middleman and get back to raising some awesome monsters.
The DQM:J series does have a leg up on SMT, though. Each monster has a family tree going back a few generations, so you can see which monster came from what (for example, I currently have a tyrannosaurus rex with a giant hammer, and he is the result of several generations of synthesizing, and actually descends from my starting monster). Also, you can choose which sets of powers you want to carry over to the new monster, along with half the ability points (which work exactly like in Dragon Quest VIII). Half the points may sound bad, but keep in mind any freshly synthesized monster starts out at level 1, so you actually have the opportunity to earn way more ability points this way.
DQM:J also keeps track of monsters with a handy rating system, which serves to tell you how good a monster is. The rating system starts at F, and goes up through E, D, C, B, A, S, and X. I'm twelve hours in, and my best monster (the aforementioned t-rex) is a B+4 - also the highest rating I've seen. The + denotes a boosted rating a monster gets from being synthesized, so I'd imagine the best rating you could get would be X+4 or something like that. Anyway, ratings are handy when deciding how to fuse, because you don't want to synthesize a good monster into a lower level crappy one (the game indicates the results of synthesis before you commit to it, to cut down on crappy combinations).
So I really like the structure and system of the DQM:J series. What I didn't like about the first one was how the game played out. You start out as this ugly kid (with a wallet chain! ugh) on some random thief's island, and you set out to win the Monster Scout Challenge. To leave your home island, and to get anywhere in the game at all, you ride a waverunner.
In Dragon Quest.
You don't control it, either. They basically just serve as warp points, because guess what? You can't just hop on a waverunner and pick which island you want to go to. Oh, no. Each waverunner, spread around all the islands, goes to a DIFFERENT ISLAND. So you have to walk across an entire island to get to a different waverunner, which for no apparent reason can only go in a straight line to that specific island it's pointing at.
This gets tedious very quickly.
The world isn't very interesting, either. Now, maybe I didn't play far enough into it (about five hours), but generic and boring best describe pretty much every location I saw in that game.
Which are all reasons why I like Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2. First of all, the entire world is contiguous - you can walk from one place to another. Don't feel like walking all the way from the starting point to the farthest area? Why, pick it from a map menu and you're good to go! No stupid waverunners to deal with here.
Also, the world seems much more alive. There are monsters roaming around just like in the first game, but this time there are some giant monsters that will scare away all the other monsters when they show up. You can engage these monsters if you want, but it's best not to until you're leveled up a bit and probably with some better monsters, so you should just avoid them. I love them, though, because they make the world seem so much more vibrant.
It also helps that the levels are better designed, too, and the map is much easier to read. I haven't gotten lost in the game yet, and have actually enjoyed exploring every nook and cranny to find hidden treasure. Exploring is made much more enjoyable with good music, too (although they need more than one battle theme - I'm a bit sick of that now).
I will end this post with this: I am having more fun playing Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 than I did earlier this year with Pokemon White.
Startling, isn't it?
So, the DQM:J series is similar to Pokemon, in that you go around a world and collect and train monsters to beat some competition. The difference between this series and Pokemon, though, is that you can "synthesize" monsters together to get a new one, and carry over powers and some stats to the new guy.
This, of course, reminds me of the Shin Megami Tensei series, wherein you fuse demons together to carry over powers and stats to the new ones. The mechanics are very similar, actually, with only a few differences. First, to "synthesize" monsters in the DQM:J series, both monsters must be at least level 10. This is annoying early on, when raising your guys to level 10 takes forever, but eventually you can do that in a few minutes even without the help of a metal slime.
What the DQM:J series needs to take from SMT, though, is the idea of a "compendium." In SMT, this allows you to repurchase old demons, in the interest of using them to fuse new ones or just to get them back if you don't like the demon you got as a result of a borked fuse. DQM:J doesn't have anything like this; once you fuse a monster, it's gone forever. The only way to get another guy is to raise more monsters, go all the way through the evolution trees, and get the new guy, or just catch a (slightly worse) one in the wild. Sure, leveling up to level 10 is easy when you have access to the later areas, and it's nice that three backup monsters (I.E. monsters not currently in your active party, but still with you) gain experience too. I just wish I could cut out the middleman and get back to raising some awesome monsters.
The DQM:J series does have a leg up on SMT, though. Each monster has a family tree going back a few generations, so you can see which monster came from what (for example, I currently have a tyrannosaurus rex with a giant hammer, and he is the result of several generations of synthesizing, and actually descends from my starting monster). Also, you can choose which sets of powers you want to carry over to the new monster, along with half the ability points (which work exactly like in Dragon Quest VIII). Half the points may sound bad, but keep in mind any freshly synthesized monster starts out at level 1, so you actually have the opportunity to earn way more ability points this way.
DQM:J also keeps track of monsters with a handy rating system, which serves to tell you how good a monster is. The rating system starts at F, and goes up through E, D, C, B, A, S, and X. I'm twelve hours in, and my best monster (the aforementioned t-rex) is a B+4 - also the highest rating I've seen. The + denotes a boosted rating a monster gets from being synthesized, so I'd imagine the best rating you could get would be X+4 or something like that. Anyway, ratings are handy when deciding how to fuse, because you don't want to synthesize a good monster into a lower level crappy one (the game indicates the results of synthesis before you commit to it, to cut down on crappy combinations).
So I really like the structure and system of the DQM:J series. What I didn't like about the first one was how the game played out. You start out as this ugly kid (with a wallet chain! ugh) on some random thief's island, and you set out to win the Monster Scout Challenge. To leave your home island, and to get anywhere in the game at all, you ride a waverunner.
In Dragon Quest.
You don't control it, either. They basically just serve as warp points, because guess what? You can't just hop on a waverunner and pick which island you want to go to. Oh, no. Each waverunner, spread around all the islands, goes to a DIFFERENT ISLAND. So you have to walk across an entire island to get to a different waverunner, which for no apparent reason can only go in a straight line to that specific island it's pointing at.
This gets tedious very quickly.
The world isn't very interesting, either. Now, maybe I didn't play far enough into it (about five hours), but generic and boring best describe pretty much every location I saw in that game.
Which are all reasons why I like Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2. First of all, the entire world is contiguous - you can walk from one place to another. Don't feel like walking all the way from the starting point to the farthest area? Why, pick it from a map menu and you're good to go! No stupid waverunners to deal with here.
Also, the world seems much more alive. There are monsters roaming around just like in the first game, but this time there are some giant monsters that will scare away all the other monsters when they show up. You can engage these monsters if you want, but it's best not to until you're leveled up a bit and probably with some better monsters, so you should just avoid them. I love them, though, because they make the world seem so much more vibrant.
It also helps that the levels are better designed, too, and the map is much easier to read. I haven't gotten lost in the game yet, and have actually enjoyed exploring every nook and cranny to find hidden treasure. Exploring is made much more enjoyable with good music, too (although they need more than one battle theme - I'm a bit sick of that now).
I will end this post with this: I am having more fun playing Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 than I did earlier this year with Pokemon White.
Startling, isn't it?
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Everyone's Favorite Tech Demo Series - Pilotwings: Resort
So I was able to take advantage of a neat K-Mart deal where all their 3DS games were $30, and I picked up Pilotwings: Resort using some leftover Paypal funds I had.
Now I loved Pilotwings 64. I spent a ton of time with that game, just exploring the levels and seeing all the neat little things the designers hid in there (like shooting a missle at Mario's nose to change him into Wario in the Little America stage). I also really enjoyed trying to master the controls to get medals on all the missions. My favorite part of Pilotwings 64 is probably the music, surprisingly enough. Tracks like this (read the comments for that video, the writer of that particular song comments on it!) and this are some of the most relaxing videogame tracks I've ever heard.
The missions were almost an afterthought, really. I mean I enjoyed them, but didn't play them too much. I spent most of my time exploring Little States. Even though it wasn't exactly right in every place (Michigan is a sort-of hand-like stump without the upper peninsula, for example), it seemed enormous and filled with personality and hidden stuff.
...Which is why Pilotwings Resort is such a letdown in retrospect. On its own merits, its an entertaining game, and I certainly had fun with it and will likely revisit it every once in a while, but Pilotwings 64 eclipses it in almost every way. The music is merely okay. It sounds a lot like a lame rip-off of Pilotwings 64, to be honest. The missions are about what you expect - there were no missions where you use the "missile" function of the plane to shoot anything besides targets or balloons, for example. I mean it's not like I'd expect them to put anything in there that you'd have to shoot down, but come on - no Mario/Wario transformation, or anything like that? LAME.
Another problem I have is how Free Play mode is timed. Why do they time a mode that is CALLED "Free Play?" Because there isn't much to explore, really. The entire game takes place on one island (okay, one and a half). Wuhu Island is fairly small, and maybe I would appreciate it more had I played much of Wii Sports Resort, but I shouldn't have to play some other game (that doesn't even remotely play like Pilotwings!) to enjoy the setting here.
I mean it's okay. Sure, I enjoy using the Turbo Jet to shoot down the volcano and come out the side entrance, but that's only fun for a minute or two before you get bored. I enjoyed finding the balloons hidden around the island, but forcing me to collect them only if I'm piloting a certain vehicle seems dumb to me. I understand that they want you to play with every vehicle, but I just don't like hang-gliding much (the Pedal Glider helped, but your very quickly depleting stamina meter sort of renders it moot). I would have rather used the Turbo Jet and Super Rocket Belt the whole time! I do enjoy the stuff you collect for each vehicle, though. The gold rings almost (almost!) made the hang-glider worth using, and why you collected presents with Mii Trophies in them with the Rocket Belt didn't make sense to me, but forcing you to do a barrel roll or fly upside-down through a Stunt Ring was a lot of fun with the planes. I'll probably get all those some day.
I know a lot of this seems negative. Like I said, Pilotwings Resort is only a letdown in retrospect. On its own, I enjoyed it quite a bit. While I still had missions and tons of stuff to collect in Free Play, I couldn't put the game down. The controls in Pilotwings: Resort are probably the best in the series. Landing with a plane seems more finicky (I always hit the water too hard, according to the game, but I have no idea how to counteract that), but other than that I have no complaints. I even got the hang (no pun intended) of landing the hang-glider. Still, I'll probably never get perfect scores on all the missions. If only I could land that damn plane effectively, I might go for it, but failing to land properly after flying a perfect run for 2-3 minutes and having to start over sucks.
Put it this way: I'm glad I got the game for close to free due to some judicious trades on the internet. If I actually had to put a dollar value on the game... Fifteen bucks would easily be worth it, but if you saw it for $20 you should probably pick it up. Hopefully it comes down in value someday so more people can play it.
I just hope Nintendo makes another one someday, and gives us a new place to explore, instead of some recycled areas from an unrelated game. That is, unless they want to make like Pilotwings: Twilight Princess or something, which, let's be honest, would be totally rad and not dumb as hell. Right...?
Now I loved Pilotwings 64. I spent a ton of time with that game, just exploring the levels and seeing all the neat little things the designers hid in there (like shooting a missle at Mario's nose to change him into Wario in the Little America stage). I also really enjoyed trying to master the controls to get medals on all the missions. My favorite part of Pilotwings 64 is probably the music, surprisingly enough. Tracks like this (read the comments for that video, the writer of that particular song comments on it!) and this are some of the most relaxing videogame tracks I've ever heard.
The missions were almost an afterthought, really. I mean I enjoyed them, but didn't play them too much. I spent most of my time exploring Little States. Even though it wasn't exactly right in every place (Michigan is a sort-of hand-like stump without the upper peninsula, for example), it seemed enormous and filled with personality and hidden stuff.
...Which is why Pilotwings Resort is such a letdown in retrospect. On its own merits, its an entertaining game, and I certainly had fun with it and will likely revisit it every once in a while, but Pilotwings 64 eclipses it in almost every way. The music is merely okay. It sounds a lot like a lame rip-off of Pilotwings 64, to be honest. The missions are about what you expect - there were no missions where you use the "missile" function of the plane to shoot anything besides targets or balloons, for example. I mean it's not like I'd expect them to put anything in there that you'd have to shoot down, but come on - no Mario/Wario transformation, or anything like that? LAME.
Another problem I have is how Free Play mode is timed. Why do they time a mode that is CALLED "Free Play?" Because there isn't much to explore, really. The entire game takes place on one island (okay, one and a half). Wuhu Island is fairly small, and maybe I would appreciate it more had I played much of Wii Sports Resort, but I shouldn't have to play some other game (that doesn't even remotely play like Pilotwings!) to enjoy the setting here.
I mean it's okay. Sure, I enjoy using the Turbo Jet to shoot down the volcano and come out the side entrance, but that's only fun for a minute or two before you get bored. I enjoyed finding the balloons hidden around the island, but forcing me to collect them only if I'm piloting a certain vehicle seems dumb to me. I understand that they want you to play with every vehicle, but I just don't like hang-gliding much (the Pedal Glider helped, but your very quickly depleting stamina meter sort of renders it moot). I would have rather used the Turbo Jet and Super Rocket Belt the whole time! I do enjoy the stuff you collect for each vehicle, though. The gold rings almost (almost!) made the hang-glider worth using, and why you collected presents with Mii Trophies in them with the Rocket Belt didn't make sense to me, but forcing you to do a barrel roll or fly upside-down through a Stunt Ring was a lot of fun with the planes. I'll probably get all those some day.
I know a lot of this seems negative. Like I said, Pilotwings Resort is only a letdown in retrospect. On its own, I enjoyed it quite a bit. While I still had missions and tons of stuff to collect in Free Play, I couldn't put the game down. The controls in Pilotwings: Resort are probably the best in the series. Landing with a plane seems more finicky (I always hit the water too hard, according to the game, but I have no idea how to counteract that), but other than that I have no complaints. I even got the hang (no pun intended) of landing the hang-glider. Still, I'll probably never get perfect scores on all the missions. If only I could land that damn plane effectively, I might go for it, but failing to land properly after flying a perfect run for 2-3 minutes and having to start over sucks.
Put it this way: I'm glad I got the game for close to free due to some judicious trades on the internet. If I actually had to put a dollar value on the game... Fifteen bucks would easily be worth it, but if you saw it for $20 you should probably pick it up. Hopefully it comes down in value someday so more people can play it.
I just hope Nintendo makes another one someday, and gives us a new place to explore, instead of some recycled areas from an unrelated game. That is, unless they want to make like Pilotwings: Twilight Princess or something, which, let's be honest, would be totally rad and not dumb as hell. Right...?
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
What a Nightmare: Catherine, part 1
Catherine is fucking with me.
I figured that was a wholly appropriate way to begin writing about Atlus' new 360 and PS3 game, Catherine. This is the Persona Team's latest release, and you can see the influence their prior games had here - even down to the basic structure of the story. Like in Persona, Catherine spends its gametime exploring time, not space. There are a limited number of places the player can go, but it is how they act and the choices they make in those places that affect the story.
The main "game-y" portions of Catherine are basically puzzles. The player is tasked with climbing to the top of a giant tower, night after night, and the only way to do so is to move around and manipulate the blocks to create paths to the top, while avoiding enemies and not falling off. This is harder than it sounds, because time is limited - the bottom floors of the stage fall off as time goes on, so you can't dawdle to figure out how to progress. The "boss" stages also have some giant monster chase you, while using attacks that can really mess you up - one of them I encountered reversed your controls, another knocks you down a few levels, and yet another just outright kills you. This adds an even more frantic pace to the puzzle levels, and they tie into the main story, as well - typically the bosses are metaphors for the main characters current predicament.
But I'm here for the story. Catherine is about a middle aged man named Vincent Brooks, who has been dating his girlfriend Katherine for something like five years. She wants to get married soon, and Vincent is having trouble coming to grips with the idea. To further complicate things, he gets drunk one night and begins an affair with a girl named Catherine, a much younger, seductive girl who has no idea Vincent is already spoken for. The main point of the game is to guide Vincent through his relationships with these two women, and (I presume) ultimately come to a decision over which one to stay with (or, if the game really has balls, neither - but I haven't beaten it yet, so I have no idea at this point).
I really have trouble with this game, and I'm not even talking about the puzzle bits. When Vincent is awake, he is constantly getting texts from the two women, and the player is responsible for responding to them. You have a few options in how to word your text, and, like in real life, you have to try to send a text that doesn't screw up your relationship with the girl you want. As much as I want to scream at the TV "Tell Catherine about your longtime girlfriend and dump her NOW!" you don't really get that option. The player is more like Vincent's conscience, rather than in complete control of the man himself.
The game also has some neat online integration, as well, because in between puzzle levels, the player is asked questions like "Does life begin or end when you get married?" All the other players' answers are all tallied up online and shown after you answer. The answers that are displayed are also the ones people said when they first played the game, so you know what most people really think (because I'm sure when I'm done with this playthrough, I'll play again and go after the young Catherine to see how the story changes).
I just beat the fourth night, and am growing increasingly conflicted as I play. I know I want to repair Vincent's relationship with Katherine, but I don't want to hurt the feelings of Catherine, either, because she seems innocent to me at this point. It seems like that's how Vincent feels, too, which might be why he can't bring himself to tell either woman what is going on.
They'll find out soon enough, I bet. And I bet Vincent's nightmares that night will be demented as hell. I can't wait.
I figured that was a wholly appropriate way to begin writing about Atlus' new 360 and PS3 game, Catherine. This is the Persona Team's latest release, and you can see the influence their prior games had here - even down to the basic structure of the story. Like in Persona, Catherine spends its gametime exploring time, not space. There are a limited number of places the player can go, but it is how they act and the choices they make in those places that affect the story.
The main "game-y" portions of Catherine are basically puzzles. The player is tasked with climbing to the top of a giant tower, night after night, and the only way to do so is to move around and manipulate the blocks to create paths to the top, while avoiding enemies and not falling off. This is harder than it sounds, because time is limited - the bottom floors of the stage fall off as time goes on, so you can't dawdle to figure out how to progress. The "boss" stages also have some giant monster chase you, while using attacks that can really mess you up - one of them I encountered reversed your controls, another knocks you down a few levels, and yet another just outright kills you. This adds an even more frantic pace to the puzzle levels, and they tie into the main story, as well - typically the bosses are metaphors for the main characters current predicament.
But I'm here for the story. Catherine is about a middle aged man named Vincent Brooks, who has been dating his girlfriend Katherine for something like five years. She wants to get married soon, and Vincent is having trouble coming to grips with the idea. To further complicate things, he gets drunk one night and begins an affair with a girl named Catherine, a much younger, seductive girl who has no idea Vincent is already spoken for. The main point of the game is to guide Vincent through his relationships with these two women, and (I presume) ultimately come to a decision over which one to stay with (or, if the game really has balls, neither - but I haven't beaten it yet, so I have no idea at this point).
I really have trouble with this game, and I'm not even talking about the puzzle bits. When Vincent is awake, he is constantly getting texts from the two women, and the player is responsible for responding to them. You have a few options in how to word your text, and, like in real life, you have to try to send a text that doesn't screw up your relationship with the girl you want. As much as I want to scream at the TV "Tell Catherine about your longtime girlfriend and dump her NOW!" you don't really get that option. The player is more like Vincent's conscience, rather than in complete control of the man himself.
The game also has some neat online integration, as well, because in between puzzle levels, the player is asked questions like "Does life begin or end when you get married?" All the other players' answers are all tallied up online and shown after you answer. The answers that are displayed are also the ones people said when they first played the game, so you know what most people really think (because I'm sure when I'm done with this playthrough, I'll play again and go after the young Catherine to see how the story changes).
I just beat the fourth night, and am growing increasingly conflicted as I play. I know I want to repair Vincent's relationship with Katherine, but I don't want to hurt the feelings of Catherine, either, because she seems innocent to me at this point. It seems like that's how Vincent feels, too, which might be why he can't bring himself to tell either woman what is going on.
They'll find out soon enough, I bet. And I bet Vincent's nightmares that night will be demented as hell. I can't wait.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Etrian Odyssey III: Tales of the Metroid Guild, Epilogue
The main force of the Metroid Guild stepped off the raft and onto the small shore, carefully hopping over the lava. The new Hoplite, Jaha, seemed somewhat nervous as he fidgeted in his armor. He, as well as everyone else, knew that his talents were crucial to surviving the ordeal ahead. The original founders of the guild had recruited him specifically to learn a technique of their own design. It was suitable for use only by someone who had experience as a Hoplite due to the defensive nature of that particular study.
It wasn't an offensive move, at all. In fact, it was a skill designed to keep up to five people alive in very specific, extremely dangerous circumstances.
It also had never been performed against anything that could prove its worth.
Marth, the battle-hardened Prince who had joined the Metroid Guild upon hearing of their accomplishments, patted Jaha on the back. "Fear not, my friend," he said as the other three looked on. "This will work. We trust in your skills. Shadow trained you well."
Nathan, original founder and current leader of the Metroid Guild, shook his head. "We have no time for this. Jaha, you're ready. Let's go." After readying his sword, he began walking over the crest of the island.
Behind him, Yukiko, the senior Monk who had also been an original founder of the Metroid Guild, looked at Kyle, also an original founder and senior Zodiac. "I hope you taught the prince well," she mused. "If he doesn't keep that Hoplite from passing out, I'm not sure my healing qi will be of much help if I'm dead."
"We'll see, I suppose," the diminutive magician said. Yukiko nervously cocked an eyebrow at him before catching up to the others on the crest of the island. She had never heard her old friend second guess himself before, and it worried her. Every person had a very specific job to do, and if any of them failed, every single one of them would die.
It was too late to back out now, though. As the rest of the five members reached the top of the small crest, they watched as their target became aware of their presence. It got up on its back legs, clawing at the charred dirt beneath it. It raised its enormous head to the sky as it roared, blasting pebbles and dirt past the guild as they stood there, in awe of the magnificent beast before them.
The beast settled down on its haunches, and the five brave souls threw themselves at it. Before they could even reach it, it bellowed a searing blaze of fire at them, large enough to engulf all five of them and then some. Jaha was ready. He threw up his rather large shield and chanted a few words, and the fire was fully absorbed by the enchanted shield.
Marth let out a celebratory holler. "Well done, Jaha!" he shouted as he and Yukiko started casting some protective spells to prevent heat exhaustion, confusion, and fatigue. Nathan did what he always did, and taunted the enormous creature - albeit nervously, because he wasn't sure he'd be able to stand up to too many focused attacks by it. The rest of the team would have to take some hits themselves. He worried about Kyle more than the rest, mostly because his small frame didn't lend itself well to much physical punishment. He would have to rely on Jaha for that...
Before the dragon composed itself, Jaha began using his familiar Line Guard skill, which helped mitigate the damage his friends would take. He threw a twist on his old standby, though, by utilizing Bunshin, a technique taught to him by Shadow, the veteran Ninja of the Metroid guild. It allowed him to spread his techniques to the entire party.
But the dragon, surprised his fire breath hadn't handled his attackers like it had always had, flew into a rage. It charged his small enemies, well aware how easily it could crush them.
It was again surprised to learn that these fellows were ready for him. It was stunned when the smallest one, dressed in black, shot two extremely cold, extremely painful spears of ice directly at his face.
It had been a long, long time since this ancient beast had felt pain.
They had the full attention of the entire Stratum now. Around them, the beasts in the cavern hid behind rocks or simply fled in terror at the battle unfolding before them. None, not even the large (at least not when compared to the beast now embroiled in battle) Poison Dragons dared participate. They watched in silent awe as the small humans fought valiantly against the Wyrm of the Molten Caves.
Nathan had given up on provoking the dragon, as the beast had gone completely out of control. It was throwing everything it had at them by wildly swinging its limbs at anything that dared come near it, while spewing fire in every direction every chance it got, and it when it wasn't spewing fire, it was spouting as much smoke as it could to try to befuddle the five humans.
The Metroid Guild weren't exactly in great shape, either. All five of them were covered in burns, and most of them were cut fairly deeply by the maniacal beasts claws. Yukiko had entered a healing frenzy, healing every one of them as often as possible, with no regards to her stamina. Once in a while she had to eat an amrita or two, to summon the mental acuity needed to keep her companions healthy.
Jaha hadn't had a coherent thought in a half hour. He didn't have time. He was a mess, but he showed no signs of falling. He was taking as much damage for his compatriots as he could, and his shield, thank the Goddess, was holding up admirably.
Kyle had been taking a beating like he had never had before. He felt as close to death as he had ever felt the whole time, as Yukiko's healing spells seemed to hit him as late as possible just before he was torn asunder by the beasts claws. He got angrier and angrier as he threw every ice spell he knew at the damned Wyrm; sharp ice seemed to flow from both of his hands constantly.
Marth was rattled. The prince had seen many battles in his time, and had fought against some tough adversaries, but nothing like this. This seemed a force of nature to him. He wasn't sure he and his compatriots would make it, and was worried that if they failed, the beast would continue to frenzy out of control, leaving the cave and killing anybody it found. He was chanting as fast as he could, occasionally striking the beast when he saw an opening, but at one crucial moment, right when they thought the beast might fall, he forgot to chant a spell to keep Jaha from passing out from confusion.
All four of them knew what happened instantly. They had no time to berate him, as the dragon let loose a flurry of smoke, disorienting Jaha and making him break away from the group. He knew he had to regain his composure or he and his friends would die. The dragon swung one of its giant claws and struck Kyle directly, finally landing a clean hit on the small wizard. The powerful spellcaster was sent flying, and he landed with a thud several feet away after splitting his head open on a rock. His main adversary downed, the dragon roared, and stood on its haunches as it prepared to finally take down these pesky, though worthy, adversaries.
Yukiko, already casting healing spells as hurriedly as possible, tried to make up for the lack of defense from Jaha by chanting every spell she knew for her compatriots. She upped Nathan's strength in the hopes he would down the dragon. She tried to help Jaha regain his composure and bring him back to the rest of the group. She tried vainly to revive Kyle, as his body lay lifeless several feet away from them.
Nathan began to panic. His sword lately had seemed to barely do anything to the dragon, and the beast seemed to have gained a bit of confidence and strength when it killed Kyle. He still madly swung his blade at the beast, in the vain hope he'd be able to save his remaining comrades.
Jaha had regained composure and charged back into battle, defending his friends as best he could. Without Kyle, the battle had come to a stalemate at best, and the four Metroid Guild members knew the dragon could outlast them. They still fought, courageously hoping they'd be able to somehow survive.
Just when Jaha felt he had no more strength and Yukiko had long since run out of amritas, the dragon began to lunge at Marth. Right before his jaw clenched down around his torso, the dragons head was sickeningly rocked backwards as an enormous bolt of ice shot through its left eye socket. The dragon reeled backwards, and with a pained cry, finally spent its last breath.
Nathan turned around. "Kyle!" he laughed. "I thought you were dead!"
The wizard certainly looked it. He needed to be treated, fast, and the party had little means to comfort him. Jaha and Marth looted what they could from the enormous corpse, while Nathan and Yukiko tended to their old friend.
"You did it, Kyle!" Nathan told him. "We killed the Wyrm. We're going to be legends."
"We're already legends, you fool," he sputtered back.
. . .
The strong wizard was right. A little over two years ago, they had saved the town of Armoroad from an ancient and evil threat. They had mapped the Yggdrasil Labyrinth beneath the town, and had slain many dangerous monsters in the meantime. Tales of their valiant efforts had spread, and hundreds of warriors had come from all over the world to join their ranks. They had long since assured their financial well being, and decided to spend the rest of their days taking whatever challenge they could find.
They scoured every cave, every ruin, every haunt they could find. They were recognized as legends in their own time. Their tales would even be collected in a series of books that would become classics in their own right, making their authors and their heirs rich.
The title of the book is "Etrian Odyssey."
It wasn't an offensive move, at all. In fact, it was a skill designed to keep up to five people alive in very specific, extremely dangerous circumstances.
It also had never been performed against anything that could prove its worth.
Marth, the battle-hardened Prince who had joined the Metroid Guild upon hearing of their accomplishments, patted Jaha on the back. "Fear not, my friend," he said as the other three looked on. "This will work. We trust in your skills. Shadow trained you well."
Nathan, original founder and current leader of the Metroid Guild, shook his head. "We have no time for this. Jaha, you're ready. Let's go." After readying his sword, he began walking over the crest of the island.
Behind him, Yukiko, the senior Monk who had also been an original founder of the Metroid Guild, looked at Kyle, also an original founder and senior Zodiac. "I hope you taught the prince well," she mused. "If he doesn't keep that Hoplite from passing out, I'm not sure my healing qi will be of much help if I'm dead."
"We'll see, I suppose," the diminutive magician said. Yukiko nervously cocked an eyebrow at him before catching up to the others on the crest of the island. She had never heard her old friend second guess himself before, and it worried her. Every person had a very specific job to do, and if any of them failed, every single one of them would die.
It was too late to back out now, though. As the rest of the five members reached the top of the small crest, they watched as their target became aware of their presence. It got up on its back legs, clawing at the charred dirt beneath it. It raised its enormous head to the sky as it roared, blasting pebbles and dirt past the guild as they stood there, in awe of the magnificent beast before them.
The beast settled down on its haunches, and the five brave souls threw themselves at it. Before they could even reach it, it bellowed a searing blaze of fire at them, large enough to engulf all five of them and then some. Jaha was ready. He threw up his rather large shield and chanted a few words, and the fire was fully absorbed by the enchanted shield.
Marth let out a celebratory holler. "Well done, Jaha!" he shouted as he and Yukiko started casting some protective spells to prevent heat exhaustion, confusion, and fatigue. Nathan did what he always did, and taunted the enormous creature - albeit nervously, because he wasn't sure he'd be able to stand up to too many focused attacks by it. The rest of the team would have to take some hits themselves. He worried about Kyle more than the rest, mostly because his small frame didn't lend itself well to much physical punishment. He would have to rely on Jaha for that...
Before the dragon composed itself, Jaha began using his familiar Line Guard skill, which helped mitigate the damage his friends would take. He threw a twist on his old standby, though, by utilizing Bunshin, a technique taught to him by Shadow, the veteran Ninja of the Metroid guild. It allowed him to spread his techniques to the entire party.
But the dragon, surprised his fire breath hadn't handled his attackers like it had always had, flew into a rage. It charged his small enemies, well aware how easily it could crush them.
It was again surprised to learn that these fellows were ready for him. It was stunned when the smallest one, dressed in black, shot two extremely cold, extremely painful spears of ice directly at his face.
It had been a long, long time since this ancient beast had felt pain.
They had the full attention of the entire Stratum now. Around them, the beasts in the cavern hid behind rocks or simply fled in terror at the battle unfolding before them. None, not even the large (at least not when compared to the beast now embroiled in battle) Poison Dragons dared participate. They watched in silent awe as the small humans fought valiantly against the Wyrm of the Molten Caves.
Nathan had given up on provoking the dragon, as the beast had gone completely out of control. It was throwing everything it had at them by wildly swinging its limbs at anything that dared come near it, while spewing fire in every direction every chance it got, and it when it wasn't spewing fire, it was spouting as much smoke as it could to try to befuddle the five humans.
The Metroid Guild weren't exactly in great shape, either. All five of them were covered in burns, and most of them were cut fairly deeply by the maniacal beasts claws. Yukiko had entered a healing frenzy, healing every one of them as often as possible, with no regards to her stamina. Once in a while she had to eat an amrita or two, to summon the mental acuity needed to keep her companions healthy.
Jaha hadn't had a coherent thought in a half hour. He didn't have time. He was a mess, but he showed no signs of falling. He was taking as much damage for his compatriots as he could, and his shield, thank the Goddess, was holding up admirably.
Kyle had been taking a beating like he had never had before. He felt as close to death as he had ever felt the whole time, as Yukiko's healing spells seemed to hit him as late as possible just before he was torn asunder by the beasts claws. He got angrier and angrier as he threw every ice spell he knew at the damned Wyrm; sharp ice seemed to flow from both of his hands constantly.
Marth was rattled. The prince had seen many battles in his time, and had fought against some tough adversaries, but nothing like this. This seemed a force of nature to him. He wasn't sure he and his compatriots would make it, and was worried that if they failed, the beast would continue to frenzy out of control, leaving the cave and killing anybody it found. He was chanting as fast as he could, occasionally striking the beast when he saw an opening, but at one crucial moment, right when they thought the beast might fall, he forgot to chant a spell to keep Jaha from passing out from confusion.
All four of them knew what happened instantly. They had no time to berate him, as the dragon let loose a flurry of smoke, disorienting Jaha and making him break away from the group. He knew he had to regain his composure or he and his friends would die. The dragon swung one of its giant claws and struck Kyle directly, finally landing a clean hit on the small wizard. The powerful spellcaster was sent flying, and he landed with a thud several feet away after splitting his head open on a rock. His main adversary downed, the dragon roared, and stood on its haunches as it prepared to finally take down these pesky, though worthy, adversaries.
Yukiko, already casting healing spells as hurriedly as possible, tried to make up for the lack of defense from Jaha by chanting every spell she knew for her compatriots. She upped Nathan's strength in the hopes he would down the dragon. She tried to help Jaha regain his composure and bring him back to the rest of the group. She tried vainly to revive Kyle, as his body lay lifeless several feet away from them.
Nathan began to panic. His sword lately had seemed to barely do anything to the dragon, and the beast seemed to have gained a bit of confidence and strength when it killed Kyle. He still madly swung his blade at the beast, in the vain hope he'd be able to save his remaining comrades.
Jaha had regained composure and charged back into battle, defending his friends as best he could. Without Kyle, the battle had come to a stalemate at best, and the four Metroid Guild members knew the dragon could outlast them. They still fought, courageously hoping they'd be able to somehow survive.
Just when Jaha felt he had no more strength and Yukiko had long since run out of amritas, the dragon began to lunge at Marth. Right before his jaw clenched down around his torso, the dragons head was sickeningly rocked backwards as an enormous bolt of ice shot through its left eye socket. The dragon reeled backwards, and with a pained cry, finally spent its last breath.
Nathan turned around. "Kyle!" he laughed. "I thought you were dead!"
The wizard certainly looked it. He needed to be treated, fast, and the party had little means to comfort him. Jaha and Marth looted what they could from the enormous corpse, while Nathan and Yukiko tended to their old friend.
"You did it, Kyle!" Nathan told him. "We killed the Wyrm. We're going to be legends."
"We're already legends, you fool," he sputtered back.
. . .
The strong wizard was right. A little over two years ago, they had saved the town of Armoroad from an ancient and evil threat. They had mapped the Yggdrasil Labyrinth beneath the town, and had slain many dangerous monsters in the meantime. Tales of their valiant efforts had spread, and hundreds of warriors had come from all over the world to join their ranks. They had long since assured their financial well being, and decided to spend the rest of their days taking whatever challenge they could find.
They scoured every cave, every ruin, every haunt they could find. They were recognized as legends in their own time. Their tales would even be collected in a series of books that would become classics in their own right, making their authors and their heirs rich.
The title of the book is "Etrian Odyssey."
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Dead Money: To Begin Again
Today, I beat the first add-on pack for Fallout: New Vegas, the Dead Money expansion. I must say, I enjoyed myself quite a bit, despite absolutely hating it the first time I gave it a shot.
At about level 23 or 24, I had beaten the main story of the game, and decided to go see what was going on over in the Sierra Madre casino. Once I got there, everything I owned was taken away, and I was given some paltry weapons and light armor and basically told what to do by the mysterious Father Elijah. What sucked was that he put a bomb collar on me, making me do his bidding until the casino was properly raided.
But the bomb collar had a drawback (besides, you know, being a bomb). Radio interference would cause it to beep for about 10 or 15 seconds, at which point it would blow up, blowing the player's head off. So you have to either get out of range of the radios or speakers, blow them up, or deactivate them (some speakers are armored, and cannot be blown up and must therefore be deactivated at a computer terminal somewhere nearby).
Compounding this problem was the Cloud floating around the Villa, where the player starts in Dead Money. It's poisonous, and will rapidly drain your health if you remain in it. It also appears as a sort of fog, making it difficult to see things like speakers you have to destroy so your head doesn't get blown to bits.
Also, there were these guys running around the Villa, dressed in ancient metal haz-mat suits who threw spears at me and swiped long pole-arms at me, causing me and my light armor great damage. They also were tough to kill - once knocked down, they would get back up again, with full health, unless I managed to cut off one of their limbs or head, at which point they would be dead for good. Since I had, at the beginning of Dead Money, very few options for weapons (most of which were Melee, which my character has little skill in), killing these guys was incredibly difficult. I didn't have any of my Stimpaks, either, so regenerating my health was hard because I also couldn't sleep anywhere besides the Police Station in the Villa, which was quite out of the way most of the time.
For these reasons, I ultimately quit playing Dead Money, and went back to the main New Vegas area in a previous save, and leveled up some more. Once I reached level 31 and felt a bit bored with what was left of the main game (I certainly didn't complete everything in it, but finding new stuff to interact with was becoming more and more rare), I decided to give Dead Money another try.
Armed with a little bit of knowledge of the nature of the Sierra Madre, and with level 100 lockpick, science, and speech skills, I was able to arm myself much more quickly this time around. I knew the utility of the vending machines and how they worked, and I knew to look for Dean's Secret Stashes (marked by a glowing hand pasted on the wall near one of them) to stock up on healing supplies and ammo early on. I also went hog wild, not caring if I took damage, and ended up being able to kill the Ghosts much more quickly and permanently, at the cost of a decent amount of health. Once killed, though, they stayed dead, and subsequent trips through their territory wouldn't be as difficult (until much later, anyway).
So I eventually completed the old man's quests, and made my way into the casino proper. After turning the power on and locating all my comrades (whom had helped me get into the casino in the first place), it was time to enter the vault of the casino. I encountered the old man, killed him, and ran out of the vault, Metroid style, avoiding my own death via bomb collar, activated by the old man upon his death.
I skipped, in there, a whole bunch of story, which was actually quite good. I don't want to spoil it (there's really no point), but I do want to point out something I'm experiencing for the first time, here: narrative continuity between an add-on pack and the regular game. Typically, when I've played add-ons in the past, they are either pseudo-sequels to the main story, or completely divorced from it altogether. And while much of the story of Dead Money is separate, many of the characters in it have a lot to do with characters in the main story (one is even directly affected by the events in Fallout 1!). The ties to the main story are well done and subtle, and maybe aren't even obvious if you don't pay attention. I also liked how the main story, without even downloading the Dead Money add-on, references it, as well.
Overall, the add-on was worth my ten bucks, and I downloaded Honest Hearts, the second add-on, today. I've heard much about the Burned Man in my travels in the Mojave, and I bet I'll meet him in Utah.
What a great game.
At about level 23 or 24, I had beaten the main story of the game, and decided to go see what was going on over in the Sierra Madre casino. Once I got there, everything I owned was taken away, and I was given some paltry weapons and light armor and basically told what to do by the mysterious Father Elijah. What sucked was that he put a bomb collar on me, making me do his bidding until the casino was properly raided.
But the bomb collar had a drawback (besides, you know, being a bomb). Radio interference would cause it to beep for about 10 or 15 seconds, at which point it would blow up, blowing the player's head off. So you have to either get out of range of the radios or speakers, blow them up, or deactivate them (some speakers are armored, and cannot be blown up and must therefore be deactivated at a computer terminal somewhere nearby).
Compounding this problem was the Cloud floating around the Villa, where the player starts in Dead Money. It's poisonous, and will rapidly drain your health if you remain in it. It also appears as a sort of fog, making it difficult to see things like speakers you have to destroy so your head doesn't get blown to bits.
Also, there were these guys running around the Villa, dressed in ancient metal haz-mat suits who threw spears at me and swiped long pole-arms at me, causing me and my light armor great damage. They also were tough to kill - once knocked down, they would get back up again, with full health, unless I managed to cut off one of their limbs or head, at which point they would be dead for good. Since I had, at the beginning of Dead Money, very few options for weapons (most of which were Melee, which my character has little skill in), killing these guys was incredibly difficult. I didn't have any of my Stimpaks, either, so regenerating my health was hard because I also couldn't sleep anywhere besides the Police Station in the Villa, which was quite out of the way most of the time.
For these reasons, I ultimately quit playing Dead Money, and went back to the main New Vegas area in a previous save, and leveled up some more. Once I reached level 31 and felt a bit bored with what was left of the main game (I certainly didn't complete everything in it, but finding new stuff to interact with was becoming more and more rare), I decided to give Dead Money another try.
Armed with a little bit of knowledge of the nature of the Sierra Madre, and with level 100 lockpick, science, and speech skills, I was able to arm myself much more quickly this time around. I knew the utility of the vending machines and how they worked, and I knew to look for Dean's Secret Stashes (marked by a glowing hand pasted on the wall near one of them) to stock up on healing supplies and ammo early on. I also went hog wild, not caring if I took damage, and ended up being able to kill the Ghosts much more quickly and permanently, at the cost of a decent amount of health. Once killed, though, they stayed dead, and subsequent trips through their territory wouldn't be as difficult (until much later, anyway).
So I eventually completed the old man's quests, and made my way into the casino proper. After turning the power on and locating all my comrades (whom had helped me get into the casino in the first place), it was time to enter the vault of the casino. I encountered the old man, killed him, and ran out of the vault, Metroid style, avoiding my own death via bomb collar, activated by the old man upon his death.
I skipped, in there, a whole bunch of story, which was actually quite good. I don't want to spoil it (there's really no point), but I do want to point out something I'm experiencing for the first time, here: narrative continuity between an add-on pack and the regular game. Typically, when I've played add-ons in the past, they are either pseudo-sequels to the main story, or completely divorced from it altogether. And while much of the story of Dead Money is separate, many of the characters in it have a lot to do with characters in the main story (one is even directly affected by the events in Fallout 1!). The ties to the main story are well done and subtle, and maybe aren't even obvious if you don't pay attention. I also liked how the main story, without even downloading the Dead Money add-on, references it, as well.
Overall, the add-on was worth my ten bucks, and I downloaded Honest Hearts, the second add-on, today. I've heard much about the Burned Man in my travels in the Mojave, and I bet I'll meet him in Utah.
What a great game.
Monday, June 20, 2011
The Best Donkey Kong Ever
Game Boy Donkey Kong is without a doubt the best game with the words "Donkey Kong" in it ever. I mean as much as I do like the first two Donkey Kong Country games, they don't even come close to this one.
Which isn't to say they are very similar; in the SNES games, you actually control Donkey Kong himself, whereas in the Game Boy game, you are Mario, trying to rescue Pauline (the original girl in distress from the arcade game - but by 94, Mario had been rescuing Princess Toadstool for years. Did Mario have an affair?!) from Donkey Kong himself.
Interestingly, Donkey Kong Jr. made an appearance here. In the DKC games, this Donkey Kong would go on to be the one you control, whereas the big Donkey Kong in the Game Boy game would (apparently) go on to become Cranky Kong.
Anyway, Donkey Kong '94 is king because Mario must traverse over 100 levels, solving puzzles along the way, to try to finally confront Donkey Kong. But what is glorious about this game isn't just the puzzles - it's really Mario's moveset. Mario has one of his most diverse movesets here - and he needs no powerups to access them. He can double and triple jump, do a backflip, and do handstands, which allow him to use his feet to stop barrels from crushing him, also making them land lightly next to him so he can pick them up and throw them back at Donkey Kong. He can even pick most enemies up, like in Super Mario Bros. 2, and throw them around, killing other enemies or (in a few levels) chucking them at Donkey Kong himself! All of these moves are mapped well, too. None are difficult to pull off. The double and triple jumps just require timing to activate at the right time, the handstand is just down and jump, and the backflip is jumping while turning around while running. It's actually fun beating the levels from the arcade Donkey Kong with this huge set of moves - I beat the first level in three seconds in this playthrough, actually.
The game really is an amalgam of all the mainline Mario games made up until that point. It even predicted some of the moves Mario would have in his first 3D outing two years later. But the puzzles are great, too. Figuring out how to get the key to the door is, years and countless playthroughs later, still a blast. Stage 8-1 gave me problems, even though I have beaten this game a ton of times - I couldn't remember how to beat it, so I had to solve it all over again.
The music, too, is amazing. Each world has it's own theme, and they all evoke the setting quite well (nothing too serious, either - this is, after all, a game in which you spend one world on a pirate ship, another on a plane, and yet another in an ice world) with upbeat tunes and the occasional ominous tune. The last few levels, in particular, have interesting music, some of which I haven't really heard imitated elsewhere, either.
It's interesting, having played through this game after beating Rabi Laby, a DSi downloadable title by Agetec. It, too, is a puzzle platformer, and an enjoyable one at that, but it pales in comparison to Donkey Kong '94. Rabi Laby is a bit more puzzle-y, with less reliance on traditional platforming than DK: the girl in the game can barely jump, and the rabbit only jumps twice as high, so you spend most of the game working around these limitations to get the little girl to the exit. Rabi Laby definitely had harder puzzles, though. There was one instance where I couldn't stand it anymore and had to look up the answer to one level online (and I'm glad I did, because the answer was stupid and I never would have figured it out). Rabi Laby was worth the five bucks I paid for it, but if I had a 3DS, given the choice between Rabi Laby and the recently released Donkey Kong '94 for the 3DS virtual console, I would go with DK94 every time. That's actually the reason I played DK94 the past day or two, too. Everyone who had a 3DS has been talking about the game online recently, so I had to dig up my copy and play it on my GBA SP.
Man, between Ocarina of Time 3D (with awesome commercials!) and the virtual console already having Donkey Kong '94 and Link's Awakening on it (the two best original Game Boy games ever made), I really need to get a 3DS. Maybe in a month for my birthday...
Which isn't to say they are very similar; in the SNES games, you actually control Donkey Kong himself, whereas in the Game Boy game, you are Mario, trying to rescue Pauline (the original girl in distress from the arcade game - but by 94, Mario had been rescuing Princess Toadstool for years. Did Mario have an affair?!) from Donkey Kong himself.
Interestingly, Donkey Kong Jr. made an appearance here. In the DKC games, this Donkey Kong would go on to be the one you control, whereas the big Donkey Kong in the Game Boy game would (apparently) go on to become Cranky Kong.
Anyway, Donkey Kong '94 is king because Mario must traverse over 100 levels, solving puzzles along the way, to try to finally confront Donkey Kong. But what is glorious about this game isn't just the puzzles - it's really Mario's moveset. Mario has one of his most diverse movesets here - and he needs no powerups to access them. He can double and triple jump, do a backflip, and do handstands, which allow him to use his feet to stop barrels from crushing him, also making them land lightly next to him so he can pick them up and throw them back at Donkey Kong. He can even pick most enemies up, like in Super Mario Bros. 2, and throw them around, killing other enemies or (in a few levels) chucking them at Donkey Kong himself! All of these moves are mapped well, too. None are difficult to pull off. The double and triple jumps just require timing to activate at the right time, the handstand is just down and jump, and the backflip is jumping while turning around while running. It's actually fun beating the levels from the arcade Donkey Kong with this huge set of moves - I beat the first level in three seconds in this playthrough, actually.
The game really is an amalgam of all the mainline Mario games made up until that point. It even predicted some of the moves Mario would have in his first 3D outing two years later. But the puzzles are great, too. Figuring out how to get the key to the door is, years and countless playthroughs later, still a blast. Stage 8-1 gave me problems, even though I have beaten this game a ton of times - I couldn't remember how to beat it, so I had to solve it all over again.
The music, too, is amazing. Each world has it's own theme, and they all evoke the setting quite well (nothing too serious, either - this is, after all, a game in which you spend one world on a pirate ship, another on a plane, and yet another in an ice world) with upbeat tunes and the occasional ominous tune. The last few levels, in particular, have interesting music, some of which I haven't really heard imitated elsewhere, either.
It's interesting, having played through this game after beating Rabi Laby, a DSi downloadable title by Agetec. It, too, is a puzzle platformer, and an enjoyable one at that, but it pales in comparison to Donkey Kong '94. Rabi Laby is a bit more puzzle-y, with less reliance on traditional platforming than DK: the girl in the game can barely jump, and the rabbit only jumps twice as high, so you spend most of the game working around these limitations to get the little girl to the exit. Rabi Laby definitely had harder puzzles, though. There was one instance where I couldn't stand it anymore and had to look up the answer to one level online (and I'm glad I did, because the answer was stupid and I never would have figured it out). Rabi Laby was worth the five bucks I paid for it, but if I had a 3DS, given the choice between Rabi Laby and the recently released Donkey Kong '94 for the 3DS virtual console, I would go with DK94 every time. That's actually the reason I played DK94 the past day or two, too. Everyone who had a 3DS has been talking about the game online recently, so I had to dig up my copy and play it on my GBA SP.
Man, between Ocarina of Time 3D (with awesome commercials!) and the virtual console already having Donkey Kong '94 and Link's Awakening on it (the two best original Game Boy games ever made), I really need to get a 3DS. Maybe in a month for my birthday...
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
The DS: A Classic Adventure Powerhouse?
I suppose it makes sense, what with the touch screen, stylus, and the (relative) rebirth of classic point and click adventure games on the PC in the past few years, but this old genre has flourished on the Nintendo DS.
Sure, it's no PC in that regard, but the level of quality versus quantity is pretty unarguable. Here's the list of classic adventure games that I've played:
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice for All
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations
Ace Attorney: Miles Edgeworth Investigations
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney
Hotel Dusk: Room 215
9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
And I'm not even counting the Professor Layton games, which are kind of borderline. They are great games, either way, though.
It is somewhat odd that Capcom dominates that list, publishing all but two games (Hotel Dusk and 999). Who would have thought Capcom would make so many awesome adventure games?
Anyway the reason I bring this up is because I just finished Capcom's excellent Ghost Trick. Developed by many of the Ace Attorney people (possibly the same team, depending on where you get your info on the internet), the game is about Sissel, who dies at the beginning of the game. He receives powers after his death, and is able to move about in ghost form by possessing certain items. Sissel can manipulate many of these items, allowing him to move around farther, and also to interact with the many living characters that inhabit the game world.
Also, when he discovers a dead body, he can travel back in time to four minutes before their death, and do his best to reverse it. If he does so, he changes their fate, and thus allows the storyline to progress.
Sissel, you see, suffers from amnesia. He cannot remember who he was, other than the fact that when he dies, he can see his body from his ghost form. He spends the rest of the game trying to figure out who killed him, why they killed him, who he really was (for example, why was he present in the junkyard when he was killed?), and why many of the people he encounters seem to know and recognize his earthly body.
I will not spoil the story here, because it is fantastic, but it also holds up throughout. This is probably my main complaint about every other adventure game in the above list, save for Hotel Dusk. That isn't to say the stories aren't enjoyable, just that the suspension of disbelief falls pretty hard near the end (especially, ESPECIALLY in 999 - as much as I enjoyed the characters and most of the dialogue in that game, the true ending was pretty forced and weird). Ghost Trick has a somewhat goofy explanation for the main event the story spins around, but given the context of the game, it seems grounded and makes sense. I was satisfied with it, and was surprised several times by the twists and turns in the story.
Also, the puzzles were never too obtuse to figure out with a few tries. They were challenging, but since they made sense, it should only take even a adventure game newbie a few tries to figure out.
The animation, though, is unbelievably gorgeous. The characters who move around on screen look a touch rotoscoped, then colored over. They move smoothly, and often hilariously (see Detective Cabanela doing anything, also the "Panic Dance"). The dialogue shifts between lightly comedic (Missile the Pomeranian might be the only dog of that breed whom I find both adorable and lovable, and hilarious) to somewhat gloomy and sad, but never excessively so.
There is the possibility of a sequel (don't worry, nearly all story elements are tied up in this game), although apparently the game didn't sell to well in Japan (and likely in America, either). Capcom apparently even blamed it for a poor showing in the fiscal quarter of its release, too, so that probably dooms any chance of a sequel. Maybe. The runaway success of the Ace Attorney series, and the fact that this is Capcom, who makes sequels to EVERYTHING (they even made an Okami sequel, of all things!), might mean we get to solve more mysteries via Ghost Tricks.
Sure, it's no PC in that regard, but the level of quality versus quantity is pretty unarguable. Here's the list of classic adventure games that I've played:
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice for All
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations
Ace Attorney: Miles Edgeworth Investigations
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney
Hotel Dusk: Room 215
9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
And I'm not even counting the Professor Layton games, which are kind of borderline. They are great games, either way, though.
It is somewhat odd that Capcom dominates that list, publishing all but two games (Hotel Dusk and 999). Who would have thought Capcom would make so many awesome adventure games?
Anyway the reason I bring this up is because I just finished Capcom's excellent Ghost Trick. Developed by many of the Ace Attorney people (possibly the same team, depending on where you get your info on the internet), the game is about Sissel, who dies at the beginning of the game. He receives powers after his death, and is able to move about in ghost form by possessing certain items. Sissel can manipulate many of these items, allowing him to move around farther, and also to interact with the many living characters that inhabit the game world.
Also, when he discovers a dead body, he can travel back in time to four minutes before their death, and do his best to reverse it. If he does so, he changes their fate, and thus allows the storyline to progress.
Sissel, you see, suffers from amnesia. He cannot remember who he was, other than the fact that when he dies, he can see his body from his ghost form. He spends the rest of the game trying to figure out who killed him, why they killed him, who he really was (for example, why was he present in the junkyard when he was killed?), and why many of the people he encounters seem to know and recognize his earthly body.
I will not spoil the story here, because it is fantastic, but it also holds up throughout. This is probably my main complaint about every other adventure game in the above list, save for Hotel Dusk. That isn't to say the stories aren't enjoyable, just that the suspension of disbelief falls pretty hard near the end (especially, ESPECIALLY in 999 - as much as I enjoyed the characters and most of the dialogue in that game, the true ending was pretty forced and weird). Ghost Trick has a somewhat goofy explanation for the main event the story spins around, but given the context of the game, it seems grounded and makes sense. I was satisfied with it, and was surprised several times by the twists and turns in the story.
Also, the puzzles were never too obtuse to figure out with a few tries. They were challenging, but since they made sense, it should only take even a adventure game newbie a few tries to figure out.
The animation, though, is unbelievably gorgeous. The characters who move around on screen look a touch rotoscoped, then colored over. They move smoothly, and often hilariously (see Detective Cabanela doing anything, also the "Panic Dance"). The dialogue shifts between lightly comedic (Missile the Pomeranian might be the only dog of that breed whom I find both adorable and lovable, and hilarious) to somewhat gloomy and sad, but never excessively so.
There is the possibility of a sequel (don't worry, nearly all story elements are tied up in this game), although apparently the game didn't sell to well in Japan (and likely in America, either). Capcom apparently even blamed it for a poor showing in the fiscal quarter of its release, too, so that probably dooms any chance of a sequel. Maybe. The runaway success of the Ace Attorney series, and the fact that this is Capcom, who makes sequels to EVERYTHING (they even made an Okami sequel, of all things!), might mean we get to solve more mysteries via Ghost Tricks.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Shining Force CD: A Reflection on Nostalgia
I didn't realize how much the "Sword of Hajya/The Evil God Awakes" sucks.
One of the things that always annoyed me about my beloved childhood Game Gear Shining Force was how a few battles into the game, your Force splits into two parties. This means that for the next few hours of the game, you are fighting battles with about 5 or 6 characters in each party. This wouldn't be so much of a problem, if the battles themselves weren't so stacked against you.
Sure, you say. It's supposed to be hard - you're unexpectedly split up and the odds are stacked against you! To that I say "go hump a weedwacker." First of all, you cannot pick who goes in what team (which I suppose makes sense, due to the events at the particular moment your guys split up) so if your characters aren't leveled properly on either team - guess what! Difficult grinding time!
Then you have the maps. Most of the Shining games don't put you on maps that have very slim paths, but when you split up and only have 6 characters, there are a lot of them. There is also a map wherein you play in the dark, and enemies randomly appear as you make your way across the map. Oh yay! My mage, who I had been keeping in the back due to her low HP and defense (and who also happens to be the party leader, which means if she dies, it's game over) is now surrounded by zombies and dark knights. Oh and my healer - who also has the highest attack power in this party - is near the frontlines, so if she gets damaged, he might be two turns away from healing her! Oh and he also has low MP so he may be out of healing charges anyway. Fun!
The other party, with the main character you named at the beginning of the game (Deanna, for whatever reason, is the canon name) is a bit better balanced, but doesn't face nearly as difficult battles as Natasha's party mentioned above. Right now, I'm in a lava battle with this team, and I'm finding it difficult to find the urge to play.
Which really speaks to the issue I have with many RPGs, though. It's probably why I don't find Final Fantasy IV or Four Heroes of Light too enthralling - people are constantly coming and going from my party. Let me level them up! Don't let me possibly lose equipment when they leave! Stop making stupid plots where the people have to leave for little to no reason (Shining Force CD and the aforementioned Final Fantasy games are very guilty of this, 4HoL in particular). It's frustrating to have to deal with some asshole leaving your party when you've built them up for hours on end. I mean, if it's like Tellah from FFIV and they don't come back ever, fine! I don't even know why I put up with it in Final Fantasy VI... Although come to think of it, at least there the reasons the characters split up were usually for good reason (Sabin jumping in the river to fight Ultros aside).
Anyway I'm going to beat Shining Force CD, dammit. No matter what this stupid thing throws at me. But the original Shining Force Gaiden, "Toward the Root of Evil," is so far the better chapter.
One of the things that always annoyed me about my beloved childhood Game Gear Shining Force was how a few battles into the game, your Force splits into two parties. This means that for the next few hours of the game, you are fighting battles with about 5 or 6 characters in each party. This wouldn't be so much of a problem, if the battles themselves weren't so stacked against you.
Sure, you say. It's supposed to be hard - you're unexpectedly split up and the odds are stacked against you! To that I say "go hump a weedwacker." First of all, you cannot pick who goes in what team (which I suppose makes sense, due to the events at the particular moment your guys split up) so if your characters aren't leveled properly on either team - guess what! Difficult grinding time!
Then you have the maps. Most of the Shining games don't put you on maps that have very slim paths, but when you split up and only have 6 characters, there are a lot of them. There is also a map wherein you play in the dark, and enemies randomly appear as you make your way across the map. Oh yay! My mage, who I had been keeping in the back due to her low HP and defense (and who also happens to be the party leader, which means if she dies, it's game over) is now surrounded by zombies and dark knights. Oh and my healer - who also has the highest attack power in this party - is near the frontlines, so if she gets damaged, he might be two turns away from healing her! Oh and he also has low MP so he may be out of healing charges anyway. Fun!
The other party, with the main character you named at the beginning of the game (Deanna, for whatever reason, is the canon name) is a bit better balanced, but doesn't face nearly as difficult battles as Natasha's party mentioned above. Right now, I'm in a lava battle with this team, and I'm finding it difficult to find the urge to play.
Which really speaks to the issue I have with many RPGs, though. It's probably why I don't find Final Fantasy IV or Four Heroes of Light too enthralling - people are constantly coming and going from my party. Let me level them up! Don't let me possibly lose equipment when they leave! Stop making stupid plots where the people have to leave for little to no reason (Shining Force CD and the aforementioned Final Fantasy games are very guilty of this, 4HoL in particular). It's frustrating to have to deal with some asshole leaving your party when you've built them up for hours on end. I mean, if it's like Tellah from FFIV and they don't come back ever, fine! I don't even know why I put up with it in Final Fantasy VI... Although come to think of it, at least there the reasons the characters split up were usually for good reason (Sabin jumping in the river to fight Ultros aside).
Anyway I'm going to beat Shining Force CD, dammit. No matter what this stupid thing throws at me. But the original Shining Force Gaiden, "Toward the Root of Evil," is so far the better chapter.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Shining Force CD: The Sword of Hajya
A few days ago, I beat the first scenario of Shining Force CD, "Towards the Root of Evil," based on the Japan-only Game Gear game, "Shining Force Gaiden." Sadly, there were no additional battles as creative (or fun) as the one where you had to find weapons on the beach, but the game did ramp up the difficulty a bit as it wore on.
Which isn't to say it is as difficult as its console counterparts; it isn't. Very rarely did I feel in danger in "Towards the Root of Evil," and really wasn't until the very last battle. There were bosses, sure, but with proper movement, and the slow pace I usually go through battles, I very rarely had player characters in any amount of danger. Now, it's very likely this is just because I know the battle system of these games inside and out, and therefore know the AI patterns of the enemies, but I would like to see a bit more challenge in the second part of Shining Force CD.
As for the final battle... The main bad guy of the game, Woldol, inexplicably turns into a scorpion and is invincible until you hit him with the Sword of Hajya. Going into the battle, I thought this was a Taros from Shining Force II situation in which only the main character could damage him, so I prepared accordingly, only to find out that after being damaged once with the Sword of Hajya, any old Force member can damage him. By the time I realized this, I had let a few of my party members die while trying to fend off Woldol from targeting the main character. It didn't matter, though, because once I realized what to do, I just threw everything I had at him and he went down pretty easily (coincidentally by the main character, no less).
What I do like about this scenario is how it ties into the second Game Gear game (part 2 of Shining Force CD, released as Sword of Hajya in America on the Game Gear in 1994). The main character of "Towards the Root of Evil" is actually Prince Nick, who, at the beginning of the second game, along with Gyan and presumably Claude, leave to go conquer Iom, where they eventually get defeated and your party has to help them. When I first played the Sword of Hajya, I had no idea why Prince Nick seemed to be important and why there was some random bird who looked important in the army that left that never spoke. And why Gyan had a face portrait. I never beat the Game Gear game, so it's possible that I'll eventually join up with those guys in "The Evil God Awakes," as part 2 is called in Shining Force CD (confused yet?).
Looking at a FAQ for what I missed in "Towards the Root of Evil" shows that apparently there were a few secret characters you can only get by searching certain bushes during certain battles. I like the idea of secret characters, but think it's dumb you can only get them by randomly searching bushes during battles. It'd be one thing if the game gave you some kind of hint, or something, but I had no idea they were even there. Also, I apparently missed a secret already in "The Evil God Awakes" because I didn't search a well a few battles ago. The item you find there supposedly unlocks the hidden boss rush chapter, where your party fights every boss from both "Towards the Root of Evil" and "The Evil God Awakes." I suppose I might try to get that eventually, just to see all the content the game offers (I'd also like to write about it).
Anyway, so I'm underneath the castle of Emild, about to fight the first true boss of the game, Gordon, to finally re-obtain the Sword of Hajya. I have gotten this far in the Game Gear version, and don't really remember having a problem with Gordon, so we'll see if that still holds true. I will likely write about Shining Force CD soon...
Which isn't to say it is as difficult as its console counterparts; it isn't. Very rarely did I feel in danger in "Towards the Root of Evil," and really wasn't until the very last battle. There were bosses, sure, but with proper movement, and the slow pace I usually go through battles, I very rarely had player characters in any amount of danger. Now, it's very likely this is just because I know the battle system of these games inside and out, and therefore know the AI patterns of the enemies, but I would like to see a bit more challenge in the second part of Shining Force CD.
As for the final battle... The main bad guy of the game, Woldol, inexplicably turns into a scorpion and is invincible until you hit him with the Sword of Hajya. Going into the battle, I thought this was a Taros from Shining Force II situation in which only the main character could damage him, so I prepared accordingly, only to find out that after being damaged once with the Sword of Hajya, any old Force member can damage him. By the time I realized this, I had let a few of my party members die while trying to fend off Woldol from targeting the main character. It didn't matter, though, because once I realized what to do, I just threw everything I had at him and he went down pretty easily (coincidentally by the main character, no less).
What I do like about this scenario is how it ties into the second Game Gear game (part 2 of Shining Force CD, released as Sword of Hajya in America on the Game Gear in 1994). The main character of "Towards the Root of Evil" is actually Prince Nick, who, at the beginning of the second game, along with Gyan and presumably Claude, leave to go conquer Iom, where they eventually get defeated and your party has to help them. When I first played the Sword of Hajya, I had no idea why Prince Nick seemed to be important and why there was some random bird who looked important in the army that left that never spoke. And why Gyan had a face portrait. I never beat the Game Gear game, so it's possible that I'll eventually join up with those guys in "The Evil God Awakes," as part 2 is called in Shining Force CD (confused yet?).
Looking at a FAQ for what I missed in "Towards the Root of Evil" shows that apparently there were a few secret characters you can only get by searching certain bushes during certain battles. I like the idea of secret characters, but think it's dumb you can only get them by randomly searching bushes during battles. It'd be one thing if the game gave you some kind of hint, or something, but I had no idea they were even there. Also, I apparently missed a secret already in "The Evil God Awakes" because I didn't search a well a few battles ago. The item you find there supposedly unlocks the hidden boss rush chapter, where your party fights every boss from both "Towards the Root of Evil" and "The Evil God Awakes." I suppose I might try to get that eventually, just to see all the content the game offers (I'd also like to write about it).
Anyway, so I'm underneath the castle of Emild, about to fight the first true boss of the game, Gordon, to finally re-obtain the Sword of Hajya. I have gotten this far in the Game Gear version, and don't really remember having a problem with Gordon, so we'll see if that still holds true. I will likely write about Shining Force CD soon...
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Shining Force CD: Fanservice of the Highest Caliber
I picked up Shining Force CD a little while ago, knowing it's a Sega CD remake of the two Game Gear Shining Forces (one of which was only released in America on this disc) but what I didn't know was how there is actually a few chapters exclusive to this release.
This makes Shining Force CD an absolute treat for series fans.
Having grown up playing Shining Force II, I still prefer the strategy-lite approach to tactical RPGs the classic Shining series uses, as opposed to the complicated "make-sure-your-guys-aren't-exposing-their-backs" tedious BS of the Final Fantasy Tactics lineage (and pretty much every other tactics series besides maybe Advance Wars or Fire Emblem). There aren't too many games like this left, sadly, and Sega seems to want to make the Shining series into action-RPG only. This makes me sad, because there is Ys for that, and I want more Shining Force.
I picked up Shining Force III last year, and played a few hours of it before being distracted by other things. That may happen with Shining Force CD, but I don't think it will. You see, the game has 2D graphics, basically a mix between Shining Force I and II. Having been 16 years since the game released, I have memories of Shining Force II and this game calls back to it very well. In fact, I think that's the best way to enjoy this game; having played the original Shining Forces as a kid, going back to this sixteen years later is a treat, somewhat like Mega Man 9 was when that came out in 2008.
Anyway, so there are a few differences. Unlike Shining Force II, there is no between battle exploring - there is simply the option to Save, manage items and characters, and the occasional shop, then on to the next battle. Which is somewhat disappointing, because I really liked talking to people in Shining Force II - made the world seem more real. Then again, having played games of a more recent vintage that present their worlds on a deeper level, perhaps this is for the best.
The battles themselves so far have been pretty great, though. My favorite so far was the one where my characters had to abandon ship, and after washing up on a beach, find themselves under attack. They lost all their weapons and items when this happened, so they had to search the beach to find some sticks to use to beat the battle. I doubt a scenario like this would come up later in the game, but I thought it was pretty neat - in fact, there isn't anything like it in Shining Force I or II. It also highlights something I wish would have been implemented into the American version of II - the ability to search treasure chests and the ground - when applicable - during battle (Shining Force II had a few battles with chests in them, but they were only accessible in the Japanese and European versions, for what reason I do not know). This changes the strategy of battles, because the player will want to go out of their way to obtain items from chests rather than just go beat the boss. There was one battle, though, which had a treasure chest that I had to send a character way out of their way to go get that was just a stupid Medical Herb that pissed me off, but that has only happened once so far, thankfully.
I'm in Chapter 2 of the first part of the game, and I have no idea what that means in terms of how much of the game I have completed. I'm sure I'll blog more about the game, though, as I'm having a blast identifying the references to Shining Force I and II (sadly, most of them are to the first game, although we'll see how long that holds true as I go on).
This makes Shining Force CD an absolute treat for series fans.
Having grown up playing Shining Force II, I still prefer the strategy-lite approach to tactical RPGs the classic Shining series uses, as opposed to the complicated "make-sure-your-guys-aren't-exposing-their-backs" tedious BS of the Final Fantasy Tactics lineage (and pretty much every other tactics series besides maybe Advance Wars or Fire Emblem). There aren't too many games like this left, sadly, and Sega seems to want to make the Shining series into action-RPG only. This makes me sad, because there is Ys for that, and I want more Shining Force.
I picked up Shining Force III last year, and played a few hours of it before being distracted by other things. That may happen with Shining Force CD, but I don't think it will. You see, the game has 2D graphics, basically a mix between Shining Force I and II. Having been 16 years since the game released, I have memories of Shining Force II and this game calls back to it very well. In fact, I think that's the best way to enjoy this game; having played the original Shining Forces as a kid, going back to this sixteen years later is a treat, somewhat like Mega Man 9 was when that came out in 2008.
Anyway, so there are a few differences. Unlike Shining Force II, there is no between battle exploring - there is simply the option to Save, manage items and characters, and the occasional shop, then on to the next battle. Which is somewhat disappointing, because I really liked talking to people in Shining Force II - made the world seem more real. Then again, having played games of a more recent vintage that present their worlds on a deeper level, perhaps this is for the best.
The battles themselves so far have been pretty great, though. My favorite so far was the one where my characters had to abandon ship, and after washing up on a beach, find themselves under attack. They lost all their weapons and items when this happened, so they had to search the beach to find some sticks to use to beat the battle. I doubt a scenario like this would come up later in the game, but I thought it was pretty neat - in fact, there isn't anything like it in Shining Force I or II. It also highlights something I wish would have been implemented into the American version of II - the ability to search treasure chests and the ground - when applicable - during battle (Shining Force II had a few battles with chests in them, but they were only accessible in the Japanese and European versions, for what reason I do not know). This changes the strategy of battles, because the player will want to go out of their way to obtain items from chests rather than just go beat the boss. There was one battle, though, which had a treasure chest that I had to send a character way out of their way to go get that was just a stupid Medical Herb that pissed me off, but that has only happened once so far, thankfully.
I'm in Chapter 2 of the first part of the game, and I have no idea what that means in terms of how much of the game I have completed. I'm sure I'll blog more about the game, though, as I'm having a blast identifying the references to Shining Force I and II (sadly, most of them are to the first game, although we'll see how long that holds true as I go on).
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Super Mario Sunshine: How Does It Hold Up Today?
Super Mario Sunshine is a bit of an odd game.
Released for the Gamecube in late 2002, the game is the second 3D Mario platformer. There was a lot of hype before release; there hadn't been a 3D Mario since 1996's Super Mario 64, which was (and still is) considered one of the best video games of all time.
Nintendo had to differentiate Sunshine from 64, though, and not just aesthetically (which we'll get to later). They didn't want the game to simply be "Mario 64 2." The game also came (somewhat) early in the Gamecube's life - having only been out a year, Nintendo still had the opportunity to sell the system to people who couldn't decide between it and the Xbox or the Playstation 2. But how to innovate on Mario 64's design? Mario already had a great moveset in that game, and it would be difficult to just add more varied jumps to the mix.
Enter FLUDD. An acronym for "Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device," Mario wore this contraption on his back. Using the R button, Mario could use the various functions of the machine. It could spray water in whatever direction Mario was facing, whether standing still or not. By pressing X, Mario could switch to the Hover Nozzle, which allows him to hover in midair for a bit while holding R. Later in the game, Mario can find the Rocket Nozzle and Turbo Nozzle, which let him jump incredibly high in the air and run very fast respectively. By utilizing most of his jumping skills from Mario 64 (Mario cannot use the long jump or the backflip in Super Mario Sunshine) and FLUDD, Mario must find Shine Sprites (which work the same as stars from Mario 64) scattered throughout Isle Delfino.
One of the other things Nintendo put in the game that Mario 64 didn't have is the ability to ride Yoshi. Yoshi can use his tongue to eat fruit and enemies, and can also spit "Juice" to eliminate certain barriers. The "Juice" mechanic is the oddest thing in the game, as it looks like Yoshi is vomiting liquid all over the place while he makes a gargling sound. Yoshi himself is fairly limited in utility; other than breaking the aforementioned barriers with his "Juice," he prevents Mario from using FLUDD while riding him and cannot jump very high nor float very far. He is used fairly little in Super Mario Sunshine.
The game looks fantastic, though, even to this day. Thanks to the ability to output in widescreen and Progressive Scan mode (a rarity for games at all in 2002, and even rarer for Nintendo even up to this day), the game still looks clean and has pretty good art. Some of the character designs can be poor(the Pianta and the Noki just seem like blobs), but most of the enemies and bosses are detailed and cute, which fit the aesthetic.
The difficulty, however, wildly varies throughout the game. The game isn't usually too bad, but there are definitely difficulty spikes. Early on, the player is likely to encounter a "Secret," which is a special stage where Mario must get to the end of some tricky platforming without the aid of FLUDD. These areas, while usually fun, highlight the odd physics Super Mario Sunshine has when Mario isn't using FLUDD. He controls a bit slippery, and has a tendency to fall off ledges when landing from jumps. Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine's sequels, the Mario Galaxy games, don't suffer from this at all. Without FLUDD and the moves Mario has in Mario 64 and the Galaxy games, specifically the long jump and backflip, make navigating without FLUDD sometimes more difficult than need be.
There is one Shine in particular, though, that I died on nearly thirty times today. That is "The Goopy Inferno" in Pianta Village and it is easily the most difficult Shine to get in the game. Mario does not have use of FLUDD until he can get to the center of the level. There really isn't a good way to get through it; I believe you are supposed to use the fences underneath the level to navigate your way to the center to rescue the Mayor of the town, but it is almost impossible to get to him. Look at this video and watch how that guy does it. Doesn't seem like it's the way to beat the level, does it? There are other ways, but they are all exceedingly difficult. If Mario touches any of the orange glop, he is damaged, and the player loses control of him until he hopefully lands on non-gloppy ground (he will continue to take damage until he does so).
There is also the matter of the Blue Coins. When Mario collects ten of them, he can turn them in for a Shine Sprite in the hub level. There are 240 Blue Coins in the game, meaning a fifth of the game's Shines are bought using these coins. To complete the game one hundred percent, the player has to collect every coin. There are upsides and downsides to this. The Blue Coins are typically hidden well, and are satisfying to collect (the game saves every time you collect one), but when trying to complete the game, they become pretty tedious. Finding every single last one gets old, and will likely be the last couple shines a player gets in a given playthrough.
The Blue Coins seem to exist because Super Mario Sunshine has much fewer levels than any of the 3D Mario platformers (including it's sequels). The levels included are larger, of course, but less diverse. Most of them take place on beaches or outside in some capacity. They are relatively well-designed, though. Because there are fewer levels, Nintendo probably wanted there to be 120 Shines to collect so people wouldn't complain that Sunshine was "shorter than Mario 64," although that's a bit of a guess.
The game is worth playing, though. It gets some retroactive hate these days, but many people consider it to be "hardcore 3D Mario" in that it certainly isn't easy to beat. Mario 64 and the Galaxy games are better overall, but last place in a near perfect series is nothing to turn your nose up at.
Released for the Gamecube in late 2002, the game is the second 3D Mario platformer. There was a lot of hype before release; there hadn't been a 3D Mario since 1996's Super Mario 64, which was (and still is) considered one of the best video games of all time.
Nintendo had to differentiate Sunshine from 64, though, and not just aesthetically (which we'll get to later). They didn't want the game to simply be "Mario 64 2." The game also came (somewhat) early in the Gamecube's life - having only been out a year, Nintendo still had the opportunity to sell the system to people who couldn't decide between it and the Xbox or the Playstation 2. But how to innovate on Mario 64's design? Mario already had a great moveset in that game, and it would be difficult to just add more varied jumps to the mix.
Enter FLUDD. An acronym for "Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device," Mario wore this contraption on his back. Using the R button, Mario could use the various functions of the machine. It could spray water in whatever direction Mario was facing, whether standing still or not. By pressing X, Mario could switch to the Hover Nozzle, which allows him to hover in midair for a bit while holding R. Later in the game, Mario can find the Rocket Nozzle and Turbo Nozzle, which let him jump incredibly high in the air and run very fast respectively. By utilizing most of his jumping skills from Mario 64 (Mario cannot use the long jump or the backflip in Super Mario Sunshine) and FLUDD, Mario must find Shine Sprites (which work the same as stars from Mario 64) scattered throughout Isle Delfino.
One of the other things Nintendo put in the game that Mario 64 didn't have is the ability to ride Yoshi. Yoshi can use his tongue to eat fruit and enemies, and can also spit "Juice" to eliminate certain barriers. The "Juice" mechanic is the oddest thing in the game, as it looks like Yoshi is vomiting liquid all over the place while he makes a gargling sound. Yoshi himself is fairly limited in utility; other than breaking the aforementioned barriers with his "Juice," he prevents Mario from using FLUDD while riding him and cannot jump very high nor float very far. He is used fairly little in Super Mario Sunshine.
The game looks fantastic, though, even to this day. Thanks to the ability to output in widescreen and Progressive Scan mode (a rarity for games at all in 2002, and even rarer for Nintendo even up to this day), the game still looks clean and has pretty good art. Some of the character designs can be poor(the Pianta and the Noki just seem like blobs), but most of the enemies and bosses are detailed and cute, which fit the aesthetic.
The difficulty, however, wildly varies throughout the game. The game isn't usually too bad, but there are definitely difficulty spikes. Early on, the player is likely to encounter a "Secret," which is a special stage where Mario must get to the end of some tricky platforming without the aid of FLUDD. These areas, while usually fun, highlight the odd physics Super Mario Sunshine has when Mario isn't using FLUDD. He controls a bit slippery, and has a tendency to fall off ledges when landing from jumps. Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine's sequels, the Mario Galaxy games, don't suffer from this at all. Without FLUDD and the moves Mario has in Mario 64 and the Galaxy games, specifically the long jump and backflip, make navigating without FLUDD sometimes more difficult than need be.
There is one Shine in particular, though, that I died on nearly thirty times today. That is "The Goopy Inferno" in Pianta Village and it is easily the most difficult Shine to get in the game. Mario does not have use of FLUDD until he can get to the center of the level. There really isn't a good way to get through it; I believe you are supposed to use the fences underneath the level to navigate your way to the center to rescue the Mayor of the town, but it is almost impossible to get to him. Look at this video and watch how that guy does it. Doesn't seem like it's the way to beat the level, does it? There are other ways, but they are all exceedingly difficult. If Mario touches any of the orange glop, he is damaged, and the player loses control of him until he hopefully lands on non-gloppy ground (he will continue to take damage until he does so).
There is also the matter of the Blue Coins. When Mario collects ten of them, he can turn them in for a Shine Sprite in the hub level. There are 240 Blue Coins in the game, meaning a fifth of the game's Shines are bought using these coins. To complete the game one hundred percent, the player has to collect every coin. There are upsides and downsides to this. The Blue Coins are typically hidden well, and are satisfying to collect (the game saves every time you collect one), but when trying to complete the game, they become pretty tedious. Finding every single last one gets old, and will likely be the last couple shines a player gets in a given playthrough.
The Blue Coins seem to exist because Super Mario Sunshine has much fewer levels than any of the 3D Mario platformers (including it's sequels). The levels included are larger, of course, but less diverse. Most of them take place on beaches or outside in some capacity. They are relatively well-designed, though. Because there are fewer levels, Nintendo probably wanted there to be 120 Shines to collect so people wouldn't complain that Sunshine was "shorter than Mario 64," although that's a bit of a guess.
The game is worth playing, though. It gets some retroactive hate these days, but many people consider it to be "hardcore 3D Mario" in that it certainly isn't easy to beat. Mario 64 and the Galaxy games are better overall, but last place in a near perfect series is nothing to turn your nose up at.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Ys I & II Chronicles - Ys II is Much Better
I just wrapped up Ys II, and I must say I enjoyed it quite a bit more than Ys I. I'll get into that in just a second - I have to tip my hat to XSeed for putting in a guide to Ys I in the manual of Ys I & II Chronicles - I hadn't noticed it until after I beat Ys I, but it sure would've helped to get through that obtuse mess.
Anyway, Ys II plays very similar to its predecessor in terms of mechanics - Adol still bumps into enemies at a slight angle to do damage to them. Ys II, however, adds quite a bit. The first magic item you get allows you to shoot fireballs with the X button - which is how you'll defeat most bosses, to be honest. You get a MP meter and - gasp! - can gain more than 10 levels! This makes the game quite a bit more balanced. You now gain levels at a roughly even pace throughout the game, so when you reach a new boss, you really don't need to grind or anything. Your enemies are a bit more interesting, too. Most of them have some sort of attack that triggers after they blink for a second or two, that you have to dodge or you'll take a lot of damage. This is nice because it means enemies can damage you in ways other than just running into you.
But my favorite thing about Ys II is how not obtuse it is. The game goes out of its way to give you hints as to where to go to next or who to talk to, and even gives you a warp spell pretty quickly. I only had to consult a FAQ twice, and one of those times, I didn't even need to - turns out I was getting lost in this one little area. The other time was because I needed to find some kid who wasn't in his hometown, and I had no idea where the hell he was. The game isn't completely straightforward, of course, as there are still a few puzzles here and there, but overall it is much better designed. The areas aren't quite as labyrinthine as in the first game, and there are no stupid warp puzzles! The music is also quite a bit better, too - my favorites are this track and this track.
Pretty much every complaint I had about Ys I was addressed in Ys II. The game is just much more forgiving and thus the difficulty is paced better throughout. The combat is better, the bosses are actually fun (imagine that!), and the game never felt tedious. I would even go as far as saying I wouldn't mind seeing another game in the vein of Ys II - combat and all. If I ever play a version of Ys I & II again, I won't be playing Ys I, I'll be sticking pretty much exclusively to Ys II.
Anyway, Ys II plays very similar to its predecessor in terms of mechanics - Adol still bumps into enemies at a slight angle to do damage to them. Ys II, however, adds quite a bit. The first magic item you get allows you to shoot fireballs with the X button - which is how you'll defeat most bosses, to be honest. You get a MP meter and - gasp! - can gain more than 10 levels! This makes the game quite a bit more balanced. You now gain levels at a roughly even pace throughout the game, so when you reach a new boss, you really don't need to grind or anything. Your enemies are a bit more interesting, too. Most of them have some sort of attack that triggers after they blink for a second or two, that you have to dodge or you'll take a lot of damage. This is nice because it means enemies can damage you in ways other than just running into you.
But my favorite thing about Ys II is how not obtuse it is. The game goes out of its way to give you hints as to where to go to next or who to talk to, and even gives you a warp spell pretty quickly. I only had to consult a FAQ twice, and one of those times, I didn't even need to - turns out I was getting lost in this one little area. The other time was because I needed to find some kid who wasn't in his hometown, and I had no idea where the hell he was. The game isn't completely straightforward, of course, as there are still a few puzzles here and there, but overall it is much better designed. The areas aren't quite as labyrinthine as in the first game, and there are no stupid warp puzzles! The music is also quite a bit better, too - my favorites are this track and this track.
Pretty much every complaint I had about Ys I was addressed in Ys II. The game is just much more forgiving and thus the difficulty is paced better throughout. The combat is better, the bosses are actually fun (imagine that!), and the game never felt tedious. I would even go as far as saying I wouldn't mind seeing another game in the vein of Ys II - combat and all. If I ever play a version of Ys I & II again, I won't be playing Ys I, I'll be sticking pretty much exclusively to Ys II.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Ys I & II Chronicles - Ancient Game of Ys
Ys Month continues, as I've now moved on to the original games in the series: Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished, and Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished - The Final Chapter, presented in 2011-o-vision Ys I & II Chronicles for PSP, released by XSeed.
First, a brief history of these games. Both Ys I and II were released originally for the NEC PC-8801 in Japan only in 1987 (1988 for Ys II). The games were then ported to like a hojillion systems. Time for a (probably incomplete) list! Some of the platforms Ys I & II were ported to:
-Japanese computer X1
-NEC PC-9801
-FM-7/77
-FM-77AB
-MSX2
-Sega Master System
-Turbografx CD
-MS-DOS
-Sega Mega Drive
-Sega Saturn
-Famicom
-Super Famicom
-Nintendo DS
-PC
-Playstation 2
-Cellular phones in Japan
-Wii Virtual Console
And of course the version I'm playing now, the Playstation Portable port. Having just finished Ys III (Oath in Felghana) and Ys Seven, I wasn't sure what to expect going into the original Ys games. I was worried I wouldn't like them at all, due to how archaic they supposedly were.
And they are archaic. Well, Ys I is, anyway - haven't played much of II yet. But I did beat the first game and I must say, I only sort of liked it.
You see, there is no "attack" button in the original two Ys games. You literally ram Adol into his enemies to kill them - the trick is, you cannot do this head on. You must hit them from the back, the side, or slightly off center to the front to be able to damage them without taking damage yourself. It's a very odd mechanic, especially considering Nintendo's Zelda had been out for almost a year by the time Ys I was released. Perhaps Falcom was trying to differentiate their series by speeding up the combat? Who knows!
But the mechanic isn't all bad. In fact, it can be pretty fun - when Adol is running around a bright, wide open area, it's tons of fun to ram into enemies and rack up gold and experience. The overworld of Ys I was a blast! But when Adol is running around small corridors in almost total darkness, it sucks! Like, a lot! Such as the entire second half of the game, in Darm Tower!
I will admit to liking the presentation of Darm Tower, at least in the PSP version (I have no idea if the original releases did the things I'm about to list - kind of doubt it). Adol is told when entering the tower that he has a day to complete his quest - after that, the guy who guards the door won't bother opening it every morning. As you climb higher and higher, night begins to fall. You see this because the tower is built in such a way that to climb it, you actually go outside on just about every floor. I thought it was a pretty nice touch.
Here's the problem. The level cap in Ys I is 10. I was level 10 before entering the tower. There is also nothing to buy in the second half of Ys I, because you literally end the game in the tower, so all the gold I had collected (and continued to collect, for whatever reason, inside the tower) was useless. There's nowhere to spend it! Okay, so that isn't a big deal. But it is just an odd design choice. The corridors of Darm Tower are also incredibly narrow, making it hard to hit the enemies. Oh, did I mention its fairly dark?!
So I didn't like that part. I struggled through it, and did something I usually don't (and haven't in a long time): I used a FAQ.
I have no regrets.
No, really. The game would be pretty tedious if I wondered around this tower, trying to figure out what to do for hours. There were a few people inside the place, and I kept having to go back and forth between them, ferrying items or information between them, to advance in the tower. Now, if there were no level cap, or perhaps something to spend my gold on, I wouldn't have minded. The grind would have eventually allowed me to do something. But all I would have been wasting was time, and frankly, the dungeon wasn't very fun to move around, so I just wanted to get through it.
In Oath in Felghana and Ys Seven, the bosses were (for me, anyway) the best parts of the games. Not so in Ys I. Almost every boss were annoying or exceedingly difficult - and not in a fun way - to fight. I enjoyed the worm boss and the two masks you have to fight, probably because they weren't stupid hard. That's it! The last boss in particular wasn't any fun, either. He floats around and when you hit him, wherever you landed the attack, a piece of the ground falls away, becoming a pit. If you stay on the tile as it falls away, you instantly die, ending the battle. And since the dude floats around the whole time, you can actually trap yourself and not be able to hit the boss at all, and slowly die via the fireballs he shoots.
I suppose I'm not surprised. The game came out in 1987, and for god sakes I was able to actually beat it. I can't say I have the stomach to do that these days for any turn based RPGs from way back then. Hopefully Ys II isn't such a slog - I do plan on finishing it though. Even if it does suck, I'll be cleansing my palette with Ys: Ark of the Napishtim for PS2 afterwards, most likely.
Oh! The music. I thought it was really good! Not as good as Ys Seven or Oath, but still better than most videogame soundtracks. You also have the option of switching between the Chronicles version of the tracks (the most recent remixes, which are great), the Complete version of them (the remixes done back in 2001 for the PC re-release of Ys I&II), or the original PC-8801 mixes, which I adore. I should note that the music for these two games was done by Yuzo Koshiro, of Etrian Odyssey fame. If you liked the music in those games, you will like the PC-8801 tunes in Ys for sure.
First, a brief history of these games. Both Ys I and II were released originally for the NEC PC-8801 in Japan only in 1987 (1988 for Ys II). The games were then ported to like a hojillion systems. Time for a (probably incomplete) list! Some of the platforms Ys I & II were ported to:
-Japanese computer X1
-NEC PC-9801
-FM-7/77
-FM-77AB
-MSX2
-Sega Master System
-Turbografx CD
-MS-DOS
-Sega Mega Drive
-Sega Saturn
-Famicom
-Super Famicom
-Nintendo DS
-PC
-Playstation 2
-Cellular phones in Japan
-Wii Virtual Console
And of course the version I'm playing now, the Playstation Portable port. Having just finished Ys III (Oath in Felghana) and Ys Seven, I wasn't sure what to expect going into the original Ys games. I was worried I wouldn't like them at all, due to how archaic they supposedly were.
And they are archaic. Well, Ys I is, anyway - haven't played much of II yet. But I did beat the first game and I must say, I only sort of liked it.
You see, there is no "attack" button in the original two Ys games. You literally ram Adol into his enemies to kill them - the trick is, you cannot do this head on. You must hit them from the back, the side, or slightly off center to the front to be able to damage them without taking damage yourself. It's a very odd mechanic, especially considering Nintendo's Zelda had been out for almost a year by the time Ys I was released. Perhaps Falcom was trying to differentiate their series by speeding up the combat? Who knows!
But the mechanic isn't all bad. In fact, it can be pretty fun - when Adol is running around a bright, wide open area, it's tons of fun to ram into enemies and rack up gold and experience. The overworld of Ys I was a blast! But when Adol is running around small corridors in almost total darkness, it sucks! Like, a lot! Such as the entire second half of the game, in Darm Tower!
I will admit to liking the presentation of Darm Tower, at least in the PSP version (I have no idea if the original releases did the things I'm about to list - kind of doubt it). Adol is told when entering the tower that he has a day to complete his quest - after that, the guy who guards the door won't bother opening it every morning. As you climb higher and higher, night begins to fall. You see this because the tower is built in such a way that to climb it, you actually go outside on just about every floor. I thought it was a pretty nice touch.
Here's the problem. The level cap in Ys I is 10. I was level 10 before entering the tower. There is also nothing to buy in the second half of Ys I, because you literally end the game in the tower, so all the gold I had collected (and continued to collect, for whatever reason, inside the tower) was useless. There's nowhere to spend it! Okay, so that isn't a big deal. But it is just an odd design choice. The corridors of Darm Tower are also incredibly narrow, making it hard to hit the enemies. Oh, did I mention its fairly dark?!
So I didn't like that part. I struggled through it, and did something I usually don't (and haven't in a long time): I used a FAQ.
I have no regrets.
No, really. The game would be pretty tedious if I wondered around this tower, trying to figure out what to do for hours. There were a few people inside the place, and I kept having to go back and forth between them, ferrying items or information between them, to advance in the tower. Now, if there were no level cap, or perhaps something to spend my gold on, I wouldn't have minded. The grind would have eventually allowed me to do something. But all I would have been wasting was time, and frankly, the dungeon wasn't very fun to move around, so I just wanted to get through it.
In Oath in Felghana and Ys Seven, the bosses were (for me, anyway) the best parts of the games. Not so in Ys I. Almost every boss were annoying or exceedingly difficult - and not in a fun way - to fight. I enjoyed the worm boss and the two masks you have to fight, probably because they weren't stupid hard. That's it! The last boss in particular wasn't any fun, either. He floats around and when you hit him, wherever you landed the attack, a piece of the ground falls away, becoming a pit. If you stay on the tile as it falls away, you instantly die, ending the battle. And since the dude floats around the whole time, you can actually trap yourself and not be able to hit the boss at all, and slowly die via the fireballs he shoots.
I suppose I'm not surprised. The game came out in 1987, and for god sakes I was able to actually beat it. I can't say I have the stomach to do that these days for any turn based RPGs from way back then. Hopefully Ys II isn't such a slog - I do plan on finishing it though. Even if it does suck, I'll be cleansing my palette with Ys: Ark of the Napishtim for PS2 afterwards, most likely.
Oh! The music. I thought it was really good! Not as good as Ys Seven or Oath, but still better than most videogame soundtracks. You also have the option of switching between the Chronicles version of the tracks (the most recent remixes, which are great), the Complete version of them (the remixes done back in 2001 for the PC re-release of Ys I&II), or the original PC-8801 mixes, which I adore. I should note that the music for these two games was done by Yuzo Koshiro, of Etrian Odyssey fame. If you liked the music in those games, you will like the PC-8801 tunes in Ys for sure.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Ys Seven Postmortem
Just wrapped up Ys Seven with about 21 hours on the game clock. Definitely enjoyed the game, but overall I think I like Oath in Felghana better. They're both very good though!
It's just Ys Seven tends to sag a little bit in the back half of the game. Once you've explored all of Altago, you are required to go back into all four temples you had visited, and access a deeper portion of the temple for a few new dungeons. The new dungeons are hit and miss; the first one in the forest is pretty boring. The second new dungeon is very short, but has incredible music - my favorite in the game, I think. The third one, in the wind temple, is unlike anywhere else in the game in terms of the way you traverse it - thus it's probably my favorite dungeon in the game.
As you might expect though, the parts that don't sag are the bosses. The bosses of each new dungeon are fantastically designed (especially the forest one - perhaps to make up for the boring dungeon). They are an absolute blast to play, and are pretty challenging, to boot.
The final dungeon of the game isn't that hard or incredibly interesting, but I must say - the final battle is a masterpiece. As soon as I saw what I had to do, I nodded my head as if to say "I see what you mean, Falcom. You want me to take the battle system to its logical ultimate conclusion." The final boss is a huge bug-like monstrosity that is divided up into three sections - bottom, middle, and top. Each section is fought by members of your team - every member. Not just the team you like to fight with through the whole game. You don't even get to choose who fights which part - which I suppose would be my only complaint. The three characters you fight the first form with were all characters I didn't use often, so they were pretty weak for my first try against the boss. But a bit of grinding (and some equipment upgrades, which I hadn't bought for most of them since the first half of the game) did the trick just fine for my second attempt.
The final part, the top section, is fought only by Adol himself. This means you do not get to switch party members if Adol is low on health - nor can you let his health drop to 0, either, because it's game over. No one else would be able to heal him. And by the time you get to this point, this is the fourth battle in a row you have fought without getting to save. My favorite part of boss battles in Ys games (well, the two I've played so far) are learning their patterns. Dodging, as I said in the last post, is incredibly important in Ys Seven. Therefore, as you go through the final boss fight, you are learning three patterns of attacks (that get more relentless as the boss's HP drops). By the time you land the finishing blow on the boss, you are exhausted. I was out of healing items (all of them!) and had been for a while - if it were not for my ability to dodge the bosses attacks he would have easily killed me before I got his final form down to 25% HP.
I can honestly say now that I'm an Ys fan. Tomorrow I'll start Ys I & II Chronicles, and see if I like the old school flavor. Oh, by the way - the localizations of these games are really good, too. I even began posting on Xseeds forums as a result of these games.
I've never even done that for Atlus. Now that says something.
It's just Ys Seven tends to sag a little bit in the back half of the game. Once you've explored all of Altago, you are required to go back into all four temples you had visited, and access a deeper portion of the temple for a few new dungeons. The new dungeons are hit and miss; the first one in the forest is pretty boring. The second new dungeon is very short, but has incredible music - my favorite in the game, I think. The third one, in the wind temple, is unlike anywhere else in the game in terms of the way you traverse it - thus it's probably my favorite dungeon in the game.
As you might expect though, the parts that don't sag are the bosses. The bosses of each new dungeon are fantastically designed (especially the forest one - perhaps to make up for the boring dungeon). They are an absolute blast to play, and are pretty challenging, to boot.
The final dungeon of the game isn't that hard or incredibly interesting, but I must say - the final battle is a masterpiece. As soon as I saw what I had to do, I nodded my head as if to say "I see what you mean, Falcom. You want me to take the battle system to its logical ultimate conclusion." The final boss is a huge bug-like monstrosity that is divided up into three sections - bottom, middle, and top. Each section is fought by members of your team - every member. Not just the team you like to fight with through the whole game. You don't even get to choose who fights which part - which I suppose would be my only complaint. The three characters you fight the first form with were all characters I didn't use often, so they were pretty weak for my first try against the boss. But a bit of grinding (and some equipment upgrades, which I hadn't bought for most of them since the first half of the game) did the trick just fine for my second attempt.
The final part, the top section, is fought only by Adol himself. This means you do not get to switch party members if Adol is low on health - nor can you let his health drop to 0, either, because it's game over. No one else would be able to heal him. And by the time you get to this point, this is the fourth battle in a row you have fought without getting to save. My favorite part of boss battles in Ys games (well, the two I've played so far) are learning their patterns. Dodging, as I said in the last post, is incredibly important in Ys Seven. Therefore, as you go through the final boss fight, you are learning three patterns of attacks (that get more relentless as the boss's HP drops). By the time you land the finishing blow on the boss, you are exhausted. I was out of healing items (all of them!) and had been for a while - if it were not for my ability to dodge the bosses attacks he would have easily killed me before I got his final form down to 25% HP.
I can honestly say now that I'm an Ys fan. Tomorrow I'll start Ys I & II Chronicles, and see if I like the old school flavor. Oh, by the way - the localizations of these games are really good, too. I even began posting on Xseeds forums as a result of these games.
I've never even done that for Atlus. Now that says something.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Ys Seven, part 1
I picked up the premium edition of Ys Seven the day after I beat Oath in Felghana, and I must say I am thoroughly enjoying it so far. It does play a little different than Oath; there is no jumping, for example. There is, however, extremely fast dodging - which plays a huge role in combat. But we'll get to that later.
Adol and Dogi arrive in Altago and begin to talk to the inhabitants there and... Eh, who cares. I mean the story isn't necessarily bad, really, just pretty plain. The point is, you have some stuff to kill.
Having only played Oath, the gameplay in Ys Seven is fairly different. Rather than just Adol, the player is given anywhere from two to three party members (probably three most often - a few people have come in and out of my party in the five hours I've played so far) to play as. He must switch between them at will by pressing circle, and the reason to do so is because each weapon each character uses does a different kind of damage. For example, Adol has a sword, which does damage better to "softer" enemies (basically, enemies without carapaces or armor, etc.), while Dogi uses his fists, which apparently does more damage to "harder" enemies. Other characters have different types (including the one currently in my party; she has "pierce" attacks, which are good against some "hard" enemies and some "soft" ones).
The other reason to switch characters is during boss battles. The boss typically will target its attacks at whatever character the player is currently controlling. It is thus wise to switch to characters who are either A. out of the way of the boss's attack or B. have more health than the currently controlled character. Unlike in Oath, you can use healing items in battle, so option B isn't as pressing as one might think.
Each character levels up, and each character has a set of special attacks, which unlock throughout the game. Each special attack can be leveled up (through using them, I think) and use SP, which is regained through the successful execution of regular attacks. I especially enjoy that, because it means I can use special attacks fairly often, without having to worry about refilling my SP gauge with items or at one of the healing rocks (the save rocks in Oath just heal you in Ys Seven - you can save anywhere at anytime except during boss battles).
Speaking of items, Ys Seven introduces a pretty nifty little item crafting subsystem. Whenever you kill a monster, they drop cash and items like Monster Hide or Monster Fluid (gross). There are also the occasional spots where you can farm items, somewhat like the "Take" or "Chop" spots in the Etrian Odyssey series. These can be used to craft new weapons or items. You can also just straight up buy items if you can't craft them, but I assume as the game goes on, the crafting will get more and more useful.
The centerpieces of the game, as in Oath in Felghana, are the boss battles. Each boss is very, very dangerous, and you must learn their patterns and avoid their attacks to be able to hit them when you can. You must also switch between characters and dodge all over the place to make sure all your party members survive, to ensure they all get the experience points once the beast goes down. This makes the pace of the battles frantic, and a lot of fun.
I beat Ys: The Oath in Felghana in about twelve hours. I've heard this game is quite a bit longer, which I'm happy about, because I'm rather enjoying it so far. Wait! How could I get through almost an entire post about Ys without mentioning the music? It is good! Quite good! Although I like Oath's music better so far.
Either way, though. Never would have thought I'd be mainlining Ys games. I'm definitely an Ys fan... I'm going to keep an eye out for the PS2 Ys: Ark of the Napishtim.
Adol and Dogi arrive in Altago and begin to talk to the inhabitants there and... Eh, who cares. I mean the story isn't necessarily bad, really, just pretty plain. The point is, you have some stuff to kill.
Having only played Oath, the gameplay in Ys Seven is fairly different. Rather than just Adol, the player is given anywhere from two to three party members (probably three most often - a few people have come in and out of my party in the five hours I've played so far) to play as. He must switch between them at will by pressing circle, and the reason to do so is because each weapon each character uses does a different kind of damage. For example, Adol has a sword, which does damage better to "softer" enemies (basically, enemies without carapaces or armor, etc.), while Dogi uses his fists, which apparently does more damage to "harder" enemies. Other characters have different types (including the one currently in my party; she has "pierce" attacks, which are good against some "hard" enemies and some "soft" ones).
The other reason to switch characters is during boss battles. The boss typically will target its attacks at whatever character the player is currently controlling. It is thus wise to switch to characters who are either A. out of the way of the boss's attack or B. have more health than the currently controlled character. Unlike in Oath, you can use healing items in battle, so option B isn't as pressing as one might think.
Each character levels up, and each character has a set of special attacks, which unlock throughout the game. Each special attack can be leveled up (through using them, I think) and use SP, which is regained through the successful execution of regular attacks. I especially enjoy that, because it means I can use special attacks fairly often, without having to worry about refilling my SP gauge with items or at one of the healing rocks (the save rocks in Oath just heal you in Ys Seven - you can save anywhere at anytime except during boss battles).
Speaking of items, Ys Seven introduces a pretty nifty little item crafting subsystem. Whenever you kill a monster, they drop cash and items like Monster Hide or Monster Fluid (gross). There are also the occasional spots where you can farm items, somewhat like the "Take" or "Chop" spots in the Etrian Odyssey series. These can be used to craft new weapons or items. You can also just straight up buy items if you can't craft them, but I assume as the game goes on, the crafting will get more and more useful.
The centerpieces of the game, as in Oath in Felghana, are the boss battles. Each boss is very, very dangerous, and you must learn their patterns and avoid their attacks to be able to hit them when you can. You must also switch between characters and dodge all over the place to make sure all your party members survive, to ensure they all get the experience points once the beast goes down. This makes the pace of the battles frantic, and a lot of fun.
I beat Ys: The Oath in Felghana in about twelve hours. I've heard this game is quite a bit longer, which I'm happy about, because I'm rather enjoying it so far. Wait! How could I get through almost an entire post about Ys without mentioning the music? It is good! Quite good! Although I like Oath's music better so far.
Either way, though. Never would have thought I'd be mainlining Ys games. I'm definitely an Ys fan... I'm going to keep an eye out for the PS2 Ys: Ark of the Napishtim.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Ys: The Oath in Felghana
So in between bouts of running around post-apocalyptic Vegas and kicking punks' asses in the first Yakuza, I've been playing Ys: The Oath in Felghana for the PSP. I just beat it, actually, and have to say I'm excited to pick up Ys Seven, also for the PSP, which supposedly plays a lot like Oath.
The Oath in Felghana is actually a remake of Ys III: Wanderers from Ys, which was released way back in 1989 for the Japanese-only PC-8801. There were ports to American hardware, too, though - the Turbografx 16, SNES, and Genesis, to be specific. Now, the original Ys III sucked. I can say this because I own the SNES version. It controls terribly and has ugly graphics, and that's all you really need to know. Not worth playing at all, really, unlike Ys Book I&II.
The PSP remake of Ys III reworks the game into a fully 3-D engine, and plays like a dream. Adol Christin, the hero of all the Ys games (except Origin, that is) is controlled via the d-pad or the goofy little analog nub (I switched occasionally back and forth between the two, depending on how much of a straight line I needed to move in). He can jump and swing his sword for a few combos, and can use new moves with some bracelets he finds throughout his adventure. There is a level up system, and also some very basic equipment upgrading as well.
There is also no way to heal Adol except by returning to a save point. This means that boss fights must be won by skill; you cannot simply beat on a boss and eat a few herbs or something to replenish your HP like in other games of this ilk. The bosses are very well designed, too, and thus a lot of fun to play, with very few exceptions. They all have patterns - difficult patterns - and must be bested by exploiting them. If you die (and you will), the game allows you to restart the battle right from the beginning without having to sit through any cutscenes, and if you die enough times, it even asks you if you'd like to lower the difficulty. You don't have to, of course (I was able to beat the game on Normal with very little big sticking points).
The graphics are beautiful, too. I suppose they aren't very original (mines, caves, castles, volcanoes, etc.) but they look very, very good. The special effects are nice, too, like the shimmering in the volcano, or the absolute darkness in the cave (before you find the item that lights it up, of course). My only real complaint is fairly minor: sometimes enemies are too small to see, such as the blue flying things in the last level. Are they bats? It's hard to tell, because as soon as Adol swings his sword, the only way I know they are still alive is if numbers keep popping up when he swings that way.
Of course, this being an Ys game, the music is fantastic. I've only really played this game, but I've heard in various places on the internet this game has the best music of the series. It wouldn't surprise me - the soundtrack is solid from start to finish. There are some great guitar tracks, good piano mixes, and even a violin thrown in there. The fact that the soundtrack comes with the deluxe edition is welcomed, for sure.
One of the things I'm dreading when it comes to starting Ys Seven someday is the story. I didn't really care too much for the Oath in Felghana's characters - I couldn't wait for them to shut up so I could start hitting stuff again. Thankfully, the dialogue in Oath is pretty light, and skippable. I've heard Ys Seven just goes on and on and on and isn't interesting to begin with. Hopefully I'm able to stomach it, because if the gameplay is as good as Oath, I'll be enthralled.
It has taken long enough, but the PSP has become a great little system for hardcore RPG fans like myself. It's really all I care about for the system, really. Other than Mega Man Powered Up (which I thought was good, not great), I've really only played RPGs on it. But between Ys, Persona 3 Portable, Crisis Core, Dissidia, Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, Lunar: Silver Star Harmony, and others I haven't played yet, I've really fallen for the little system.
If only my hand didn't feel like it had gotten stuck in a garbage disposal after playing for more than thirty minutes. Although I suppose that's what I get for playing on a PSP-1000. Rambling aside - if you have a PSP, pick up Ys: The Oath in Felghana. It is a PSP must-have.
The Oath in Felghana is actually a remake of Ys III: Wanderers from Ys, which was released way back in 1989 for the Japanese-only PC-8801. There were ports to American hardware, too, though - the Turbografx 16, SNES, and Genesis, to be specific. Now, the original Ys III sucked. I can say this because I own the SNES version. It controls terribly and has ugly graphics, and that's all you really need to know. Not worth playing at all, really, unlike Ys Book I&II.
The PSP remake of Ys III reworks the game into a fully 3-D engine, and plays like a dream. Adol Christin, the hero of all the Ys games (except Origin, that is) is controlled via the d-pad or the goofy little analog nub (I switched occasionally back and forth between the two, depending on how much of a straight line I needed to move in). He can jump and swing his sword for a few combos, and can use new moves with some bracelets he finds throughout his adventure. There is a level up system, and also some very basic equipment upgrading as well.
There is also no way to heal Adol except by returning to a save point. This means that boss fights must be won by skill; you cannot simply beat on a boss and eat a few herbs or something to replenish your HP like in other games of this ilk. The bosses are very well designed, too, and thus a lot of fun to play, with very few exceptions. They all have patterns - difficult patterns - and must be bested by exploiting them. If you die (and you will), the game allows you to restart the battle right from the beginning without having to sit through any cutscenes, and if you die enough times, it even asks you if you'd like to lower the difficulty. You don't have to, of course (I was able to beat the game on Normal with very little big sticking points).
The graphics are beautiful, too. I suppose they aren't very original (mines, caves, castles, volcanoes, etc.) but they look very, very good. The special effects are nice, too, like the shimmering in the volcano, or the absolute darkness in the cave (before you find the item that lights it up, of course). My only real complaint is fairly minor: sometimes enemies are too small to see, such as the blue flying things in the last level. Are they bats? It's hard to tell, because as soon as Adol swings his sword, the only way I know they are still alive is if numbers keep popping up when he swings that way.
Of course, this being an Ys game, the music is fantastic. I've only really played this game, but I've heard in various places on the internet this game has the best music of the series. It wouldn't surprise me - the soundtrack is solid from start to finish. There are some great guitar tracks, good piano mixes, and even a violin thrown in there. The fact that the soundtrack comes with the deluxe edition is welcomed, for sure.
One of the things I'm dreading when it comes to starting Ys Seven someday is the story. I didn't really care too much for the Oath in Felghana's characters - I couldn't wait for them to shut up so I could start hitting stuff again. Thankfully, the dialogue in Oath is pretty light, and skippable. I've heard Ys Seven just goes on and on and on and isn't interesting to begin with. Hopefully I'm able to stomach it, because if the gameplay is as good as Oath, I'll be enthralled.
It has taken long enough, but the PSP has become a great little system for hardcore RPG fans like myself. It's really all I care about for the system, really. Other than Mega Man Powered Up (which I thought was good, not great), I've really only played RPGs on it. But between Ys, Persona 3 Portable, Crisis Core, Dissidia, Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, Lunar: Silver Star Harmony, and others I haven't played yet, I've really fallen for the little system.
If only my hand didn't feel like it had gotten stuck in a garbage disposal after playing for more than thirty minutes. Although I suppose that's what I get for playing on a PSP-1000. Rambling aside - if you have a PSP, pick up Ys: The Oath in Felghana. It is a PSP must-have.
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